Wake the Lakes “Life Hacks for the Week” 1-8-24

Hacks for a Happy New Year:
–Get the power of a New Year’s Resolution on your side. “Contrary to widespread public opinion, a considerable proportion of New Year resolvers do succeed. You are 10 times more likely to change by making a New Year’s resolution compared to non-resolvers with the identical goals and comparable motivation to change.”
–Limit yourself to one big resolution at a time. Focus is your friend. It takes a lot of willpower to make a significant change. Focus on one big change so that you can prepare for it, manage it, and monitor it.
–Change a habit with Habit Stacking. Habit stacking is simply linking or chaining actions together to create a routine. Habits are powerful stuff. As Mahatma Ghandi said:
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
–Bounce back from a setback. Hack away at your resilience. As Vince Lombardi said, “It isn’t whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.” You will face setbacks. Expect them. When they happen, get back up and try again.
–Avoid “All or Nothing” thinking. “All or Nothing” thinking is when you give up because you didn’t do it all, or not everything went the way you expected. Rather than give up, remind yourself that something is better than nothing. Maybe you can only do part of your workout. Go for it. Maybe you messed up on breakfast. Try to eat better for lunch and dinner.
–Choose progress over perfection. This hack is for all of the perfectionists out there. When you focus on making progress, and you give up the need to be perfect, you free yourself up to find creative ways to reach your goal. You also take off pressure that doesn’t help.
–Just Start! “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe – – Sometimes the best way to get started is to just start. Don’t wait until the moon is full or the stars or aligned or you’ve figured everything all out. Instead, just get started and figure out things as you go. As long as you focus on learning, improving, and making progress, you can keep moving forward, and sometimes that is the best strategy to actually achieve your goal.