First Day of Christmas: An Advent Goal

I was recently thinking back on Christmas seasons past and realized that I usually let the year end with a whimper.   With resolutions long forgotten and a new year in sight,  I shift into neutral.   All goals and efforts are delayed for that magical border between the current year and the next.  Like a reverse Cinderella where the magic of midnight will bolster me and the goals, which are now so hard, are somehow made easier than in my current place in time.    While waiting for said magic, I would waste a month parked on the couch or something equally un-engaging.

But you know what, this delayed life plan just isn't working for me.  

Instead of doing nothing, I am going to take this year down with a fight.   My first battleground will be to find time to get myself moving more.   Like an advent calendar, my goal is to run* for at least 30 minutes a day.   Thirty minutes is not much, but it is 1000% more than I am doing now, and that is the first step.

*read: run/walk/huff puff

I was listening to a podcast that was interviewing Tim Ferriss and one of the points that I connected with was creating change through small wins.  Sometimes I can be pragmatic to a fault and when someone can apply change management theory to life, it tickles my brain.   Let's face it, change is change.    So here is the basic idea:  when you are trying to create sustainable change, people are most successful when the change is broken down to component parts.   The overarching goal must be large enough, worthwhile enough to keep people inspired - but change is hard.   Setting people up for small wins gives them the confidence and the strength needed to keep moving forward.   

Here is the other thing I know about goal setting:   Goals should always be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time limited).    My goal is to run 30 minutes a day.  Is it specific?  yes, cartwheels will not be accepted.  Is it measurable?  I can run or not. It's pretty black and white.  On my run I am going to snap a pic of my shoes as evidence. Is it attainable?  I think so.  In an earlier post I mentioned that I have been keeping extended hours at work, but I think that if I can find 30 minutes to check facebook, I can find 30 minutes to run.  Is it relevant?  Yes.  Is it time limited?  Yes, I have to keep going until Christmas.      

Check back weekly - I'll be posting evidence and thoughts as the challenge progresses.

Happy Holidays!

Jess