Did you start out on January 1, 2015 with a full calendar and clear goals that you wanted to achieve?
Did you have big dreams that you were going to change your diet and exercise routine?
Did you tell yourself you were going to start CrossFit or hot yoga or kickboxing or even spend less time sitting?
Did you know as of January first, to the pound, how much weight you wanted to lose?
If you’re a certain type of person (like me!) your entire year was planned out.
But as the year starts, things can easily get side-tracked and turned upside-down. New and exciting things come up and you want to be more flexible with your routine, schedule and commitments.
But being too flexible can kill your momentum and success.
You can quickly end up at the end of the year not really reaching any of your goals. This is why half way (well a little more than half way) through the year is a great time to reevaluate, repurpose and reset.
If you happen to read this and it's no longer half way through the year, that's ok too. It's never a bad time to reevaluate your goals, take a closer look at what you're doing, what you're not doing, what you need to do more of and what you need to do less of.
We all have these things we want to improve (me too!) so don't be too hard on yourself. The purpose of this is to bring awareness to the areas that you are struggling, course correct, and ask for help where you need it most.
But before we start, ask yourself… How on track are you to the goals you set at the beginning of 2015? And are you clear on what needs to happen between now and December to accomplish them?
If you aren't happy with the answer I know you meant well. You want to plan, you want to reach those goals, maybe you even made a really hard effort earlier in the year, but you fell off track because things weren't going how you thought they would. That's ok, it's time to regroup.
Step #1: Take fifteen minutes and write down every single thing you did last week. Yes, everything. Trust me, it won't take as long as you think.
If you need help, check last week’s calendar and write down everything… grocery shopping, getting ready for work, going to the gym, packing lunches, date night with your hubby. Don't stop until the full fifteen minutes is up.
Step #2: Take another fifteen minutes and look ahead up until the end of 2015 and write down every single thing you need to get done. List everything. Things related to your diet and health but also random tasks (like plan Mom's 50th birthday party in November).
You might find it helpful to look at the goals you set back in January to see what health, fitness, diet or weight loss goals were most important to you then. Keep in mind that you aren't setting new goals here, only goals that you originally set but have not yet reached.
Step #3: Divide up your list. Take a yellow highlighter and colour all the tasks that will move you towards health. This will include things like yoga, hitting up the farmer's market, joint-to-join mobility, journaling, ritualizing a Sunday Food Prep Day, or hiring a personal trainer.
Then look at this list and ask yourself if these are still important and exciting to you. If they're not, then tweak them a bit. Just be careful not to scrap the entire year and start all over again. There was a reason you set those goals in January in the first place. Just because you aren't exactly where you want to be doesn't mean you cannot still get there.
Step #4: Take a look at where you are procrastinating and wasting time. Take a look at the list you made in step #1 and highlight in pink the tasks that were a waste of time, or tasks that you could have delegated to someone else.
Take that same highlighter and highlight anything in the list made in step #2 that you can delegate to someone else too. Here we are just identifying things that you shouldn't be spending your time on.
Step #5: Open up your calendar and make it real. Try colour coding each of your tasks. Food prep in green, grocery shopping in blue, batching packing lunches (only pack lunches on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays) in orange, going to the gym is purple, listen to a health podcast like this or this in yellow, and writing in your food log in red.
Now when you take a step back and look at your calendar does it excite you or make you feel overwhelmed? Your schedule shouldn't be exhausting; it should create freedom through structure.
Maybe you need a reset after overindulging over the summer or derailing from your new years resolutions or a game plan as you head into a chaotic back to school season. Accept that the first half of the year is over and that you aren't quite where you want to be, and use this as a launching point to accomplish your goals for the second half of the year.
Keep in mind that it does take work… every single day. And remember to be kind to yourself throughout the process and most of all take help when it's given.
For more simple By Design recipes why not pick up your copy of the Eat By Design Cookbook. I’ve created it in the form of a 28-day meal plan (plus grocery lists!) so you don’t need to think about what’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner for the next month. Or you can grab the first 7 days FREE by clicking here.