Five-Minute Actions
Believe it or not, we are officially halfway through the year. Today is July 1. And that marks the halfway point. I wanted to pause for a moment and recognize today, because it is significant.
I know, many people are very cynical about the whole idea of setting new year's resolutions. And I am somewhat as well. But the change of the calendar year naturally marks a really great opportunity to reset yourself. It's also common that most people have some time off from work during the week or two weeks leading up to the New Year.
So, whether you call them resolutions, goal setting, or just consider it a time where you take some time to see how things are going, I want to recognize that we are officially 50% of the way through to the next opportunity where most of us will again take serious stock of the status of our lives.
Often this time period of selfrelfection is minimized as being basic. Meaning it is fundamentally flawed because the action itself is too predictable and thus not meaningful over the long haul. Or so people say.
As someone who thoroughly enjoys setting goals and the challenge of achieving them (or not), I don’t think we should ever minimize the ideas we come up with to better ourselves or better our lives. There are a lot of naysayers who may try to make us feel silly, embarrassed, or even guilty for being so brash as to think we can improve ourselves. I’m not the one who is going to say that though.
So, please take a moment to think back to some of the goals you’ve set for yourself in the past. No, this exercise is not limited to just the most recent New Year, think back to any goal you want to.
How are you doing with those goals? Where are things standing for you right now?
It’s very easy, it's also very natural and traditional that people are able to hunker down for a couple weeks or a couple months and pound away at their goal. But then take their foot off the gas pedal.
I’ll ask again: Where are you in your goal attainment?
If things are going great, keep it up! If things aren’t going so great, please keep reading.
One of the hardest things is making progress and then trying to keep your foot on the gas and not let up. This is the natural ebb and flow of progress. It is uncomfortable. Learning to slowly move yourself forward when everything around you seems to be indicating otherwise is a skill that must be developed.
It’s easy to tie one’s own worthiness to goal achievement. But please try not to! Losing 10lbs or saving another $1,000 does not define who you are as a person and the sooner you can understand all goal achievement is tied firmly to systems and processes, the easier it is to untie YOUR SELF-WORTH from those goals.
So if you find yourself in the situation of thinking back to some of the goals that you set at the turn of the year and realize you’ve kind of forgotten those and perhaps swept them under the rug, or perhaps you're thinking “Oh, man, you know, like I made such good progress for the first three-four months of the year. What’s happened these last 2-months?”
Just know that this is all really natural, regardless of what situation you're in.
However, I think it is important to remember and realize that at any moment in time, you can choose to take some action and reverse or improve your trajectory. I like to call these types of steps: 5-minute actions.
A 5-minute action is simple and can be done today! It can be anything quick that gets you moving in a positive direction. We’re just after a bit of momentum.
A few examples are: calling your doctor to schedule your annual exam, paying a couple of the bills that just arrived in the mail, setting aside 5-minutes for meditation, making a SuperShake, going for a 5-minute walk. Or, of course, something more specific to your actual goal.
5-minute Actions can literally be anything that makes you feel like you have achieved something positive and, guess what else… they add up big time!
Once again, ask yourself, what are some of those things that you could do? Just by doing these little things regularly, you will get really positive momentum going. Even the slightest momentum is all you need to get started.
I hope this nudges you to action, if you need it! I wish you the best as I double down on my goals for the year!
Since you’re here: We have a small favor to ask! At SAPT, we are committed to sharing quality information that is both entertaining and compelling to help build better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage us authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics.
Thank you! SAPT