It’s been a little over a year since I attended the Making Things Happen Conference.
It was such a rich conference that its principles have stuck with me all this time. I can’t say the same for other conferences I’ve attended. The powersheets have definitely helped in solidifying and applying what I learned too.
When I first shared about MTH, I didn’t really write much about what I learned because I just wanted to get to applying everything in my life. I didn’t want to talk about it and then end up not following through and feel like a hypocrite. Things have been far from perfect, but I am so thankful for the progress that I’ve made as a result of the lessons I learned at MTH and the help that the powersheets have been in my life.
You’d have to attend the conference or read Lara Casey’s blog to really soak in all the richness and wisdom, but there was one nugget that I thought would be a practical item I could share with you. As the new year approaches and you begin reflecting on 2014 and dreaming about 2015, I hope this will help you get further with your goals then you ever imagined. It has made all the difference for me.
One of my goals this year was to be healthy. Normally, it’s to lose a certain number of pounds or fit into a certain size pant. But this year, I wanted more than just that, I wanted to feel good, to feel the benefits in my mind, body and spirit that healthy living can achieve. Like I said, it hasn’t been a perfect road since I set this goal, but I can say that I definitely have lived a more consistently healthy life this year than in previous years. And the difference is because I attached emotional and unselfish reasons for achieving this goal. I learned that our reasons behind a goal can be selfish or self-focused. I want to be a size 4, I want to look better, etc. Those are self-focused and don’t usually motivate us for very long. This definitely resonated with me.
So, I set out to try something new. I set my goal of living a healthier life and then I drafted a list of reasons why. I’ll share my honest (and vulnerable!) list below to help with understanding this new concept. At least, it was new to me, revolutionary even.
REASONS TO BE HEALTHY
- I will have more energy to serve others.
- If I don’t do it now, I won’t do it when I’m 80.
- To cultivate a healthy home for my family.
- Feeling better physically will make my love life with Vitaliy more enjoyable.
- To prepare for healthy eating during pregnancy.
- I will have less weight to lose after having a baby.
- To be a source of light and life to others.
- To cultivate a spirit of self-control.
- To increase my productivity.
- To glorify God.
I wrote these out at the beginning of the year when we were anticipating starting a family. It is now November, 11 months later, and I am almost 7 months pregnant. Is my eating and exercising, perfect? No. But, thankfully that’s not the goal. Progress is the goal. And living a healthy lifestyle is still a big priority for me. I have seen huge progress even while pregnant. I haven’t fallen off the band wagon, so to say. I don’t have regrets or that sense that I’ve let myself down yet again. This will continue to be a goal of mine and I now have another reason to continue pursuing it. To have the health and energy in order to care for my little one.
I honestly didn’t attach emotional reasons to any of my other goals. But I’m starting a new set of powersheets, hopefully this weekend, and I plan on applying this same concept to the new goals I set for the upcoming 6 months. I won’t be waiting for January to come around. I’ll be continuing my goals right now. But there are two new things I’m excited about coming in January, my new Simplified Planner and Lara Casey’s new book Make It Happen. There were so many days this year that I wanted a planner like this to help me get my larger goals down to daily achievable tasks. And since I likely won’t be able to travel as much next year, I’m hoping Lara’s new book will be a good alternative to the actual conference.
Cheers to goal setting…for all the right reasons! Happy weekend everyone.
I love this Candace. Thanks.