It's 11:45 pm, and you’ve been in bed for 45 minutes. You got to bed late after catching a few episodes of your favorite TV show. Dinner was take-out - your favorite burger joint with the special fry sauce that goes so well with your new tie. Somewhere behind your left eye is a nagging throb that pulses in synch with your heartbeat -you could set your watch to the tempo, but you haven't had the time after a marathon day that started at 6:30 am and has only paused for you to take time to grab a diet soda and keep it moving. If any part of this sounds familiar - I think you’ve got bad NEWS.
Nutrition, exercise, water, sleep, or NEWS are essential to sustaining a lifestyle that allows us to reach our personal and professional goals. Turning bad NEWS into good NEWS is possible, but it takes focus, planning, reflection, and self-forgiveness. Focus begins when we put our reasons for having good NEWS in perspective. Some prompts which support a good NEWS focus:
Why is having good NEWS vital to you?
What will it be like to have good NEWS?
What will it take to make good NEWS happen in your life?
Where can you begin?
Who will hold you accountable?
This last prompt might take some work and investment to find an excellent coach to support your endeavors. We all need a good plan. I recently invested in the services of a fitness and wellness coach. Her services were tailored caring and provided the right amount of challenge and accountability that helped me get my NEWS exercise and nutrition portions in order. Getting those elements in order helped round out the entire package and significantly boosted my journey. I haven't reached all of my goals, but I feel great! Shout out to Coach Janelle Trujillo for her support and friendship on my journey.
As with any journey, it’s essential to take a moment and think about how far you’ve come on your journey and what you need to do to continue moving forward, pivot, or seek additional resources. I’ve made a lot of errors on my journey, and it’s in my reflection that I make time to think about what’s keeping me from reaching my goals. I also make time to celebrate my wins and new learning on the way. This reflection space in the journey to good NEWS is vital to our long-term success. You can skip late-night TV but don’t miss your reflection time. This might be journaling, praying, meditation, or talking things through with a coach.
At some point in the journey from bad NEWS to good NEWS, we will fail, have setbacks, and realize frustration, and that’s okay. Giving up on the journey can be made more accessible based on losses and setbacks early. When my travel season picks up, sticking to my good NEWS plan becomes tough. I try to adjust my schedule to make room to find the sleep I need and make sure that my travel food fits into my reduced exercise efforts. Where possible, I try to incorporate exercise in ways that suit my schedule best. When I fail, I go back to reflection to capture some learning, and I forgive myself by talking back to poor self-talk that tells me I’ll never reach my goals.
As we near the end of 2024 and enter the goal-setting season in the new year, I want to encourage you to make space for good NEWS in your life. We’d love to help you love your story!
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