Do you set New Year’s Resolutions? I do. Well sort of. I don’t actually call them New Year’s Resolutions. I call them FLOW Goals and they are part of the Strategic Planning I do each year. This year, I was determined to get one of my personal goals achieved in record time … until I broke it.
Not the resolution to achieve the goal, mind you. I broke my ability to achieve it. I broke my left toe, to be exact.
My #1 personal goal this year was to take my yoga to the next level, so I had mapped out my next six months of yoga to make sure that I achieved my target by mid year. I was even ahead of my pace that I had planned earlier in December. And then, crunch. I’m limited to the number of poses and changes of poses I can do with this little annoyance.
I also can’t run. Which is what I normally do when I’m not doing yoga. I can do some weight training if I limit myself to a lot of floor and arm work. I can do cardio if I limit myself to a stationary bicycle. Right now I can’t even put on a pair of shoes.
So, now I need a new plan. Which means, I fall back to my Plan B.
How many of us let life’s little annoyances get in the way of achieving our ultimate goals? How many of us let setbacks derail us off our target for months, years, or even forever?
When I work with my coaching clients, I want to know under what circumstance would they not take action on doing the stuff that needed to be done to meet their goals. And then I want to know what they are going to do instead. Me breaking my toe prevents me from meeting my targets for the next month, which in turn affects the targets for the month after that, and so on. One of my clients wouldn’t complete his swimming regime if it was lightning outside or if he had a bad sinus infection.
So, then what? What do you do when the worst case scenario comes up? You fall back on Plan B. For myself, it’s core time. I can still work on my stomach muscles and my arms while I’m waiting for my toe to heal. I can even do a 3-point plank! For my client, it was stretching and weights. He could still do these things even if the weather had turned on him or if he wasn’t feeling up for a swim with a cold.
When we plan for what happens when it all goes pear-shaped, we prevent it from going pear-shaped. We can be flexible in our strategy to keep us flowing along toward our ultimate destination.
How about you? Do you have a Plan B for your New Year’s Resolutions?