By Izzy Leizerowitz
It’s Sunday night and you are about to head into another whirlwind week. Welcome to 2020. While you still have 20 minutes, perhaps less before sheer exhaustion takes over and numbs your mind, thoughts race in your mind as you survey the landscape of missed opportunities and potential new goals.
I need to lose 25 pounds. I can’t remember the last time I had a calm, intimate conversation with my partner. I feel lost at work. Why don’t the kids/parents call me? How am I going to pay my bills this month? How do I stop checking my phone for meaningless Facebook/Instagram/Twitter notifications?
A feeling of dread and mental paralysis fills you as you are overwhelmed with how to cope and conquer these issues that will lead you to a more meaningful, healthier, and more productive life. You wish you knew how to start on the road to success and feeling positive. Let me suggest several a strategy.
First, you should keep it simple. Make a list. Make several lists. On top of each list, make a heading and highlight the objective. For example, one list could be titled, Better Health. Underneath it you could state an objective. Lose 25 pounds. Perhaps elaborate such as; Need to eat healthier, Have more energy, etc. The next step is the most important. Decide how long it will take to accomplish the goal. Then break it up into manageable bites of time so that you are left with stating your goals for this week. This way, your objective feels and looks manageable. Last but not least. Decide how in going about your life everyday, and facing ongoing challenges to meeting your goals, you are going to fight off these challenges so that you can meet your goal(s). Some people choose to avoid situations but that really isn’t realistic. But some do what I do, that is, taking a quick pause and counting to five slowly before making a decision. It allows you to pause and think even for a few seconds before making either a good or destructive decision in accomplishing your goals. Five seconds is all you need to not eat that unhealthy treat, not say that mean spirited remark, not buy that unnecessary purchase, not scroll yet again for meaningless notifications, and not hit that snooze button instead of getting out of bed and to the gym.
One decision at a time. One day at a time. Regardless of the size of the task at hand, and especially if it’s a long road back to where you need to be, slow and steady always wins the race. It’s true in fables and children’s stories, and it’s true in life.