This is an iHeart Podcast.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that the next few weeks are the preseason for resolutions.
If you get a lot of new year new you sorts of energy, consciously using the next few weeks to practice your goals will get you in shape to start the new year strong.
So I love self-improvement in general course, which means I am fascinated by the concept of New Year's resolutions.
The traditional and perhaps jaded thinking is that most of them fail.
But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the concept.
Honestly, I just think most people do it wrong.
There's a lot of delusional thinking out there.
Sometimes people set goals that they don't actually want to do.
Sometimes people haven't thought through the constituent steps of their goals and the logistics required to fit those steps into their lives.
And sometimes we believe that we will become entirely different people on January 1st, somehow capable of doing feats that seemed hard before.
As someone who has kept a number of New Year's resolutions, I do think it's quite possible to set goals and follow through.
But, and this is a big but, we have to be realistic.
New habits often take a lot of practice.
Figuring out what works, what is compelling, what fits with life, and doing these things over and over again until they seem more rote.
You can ramp that up on January 1st.
But if you'd like to start out strong in the new year, Another option is to use these next few weeks as practice time.
For lots of sports, the official season is preceded by a preseason.
The teams practice and sometimes do some competitions that don't officially count.
The purpose of all of this is to get in shape for the actual season by approximating a lot of what happens when it's game time.
We can do this for resolutions as well.
What could you do in the next few weeks to get in shape for your goals?
How can you engage in the behavior you are hoping to adopt in a low-key way?
One of my goals for 2024 is to listen to all the works of Bach.
So these days, I am creating a calendar of what I need to listen to each day.
And I'm also experimenting with how the listening will fit in my life.
When can I listen to 30 to 40 minutes of Bach each day?
I have started listening to a few pieces while driving around or while doing my daily stretching.
I'm practicing what it will be like to truly move forward with this resolution.
Likewise, I am resolving to do my back exercises every day in order to strengthen my core and my back and hopefully solve some back pain that I have been experiencing.
So, since I know that is my resolution, I have gone ahead and started it now, doing 10 to 15 minutes of exercises and stretches each day.
I see where it can fit in.
I have learned to put it on my daily to-do list, so I don't forget it.
By the time New Year's Day rolls around, I will have been doing these stretches for approximately six weeks in a row, which means that turning it into a New Year's resolution will mostly be about continuing the habit.
How might you treat the next few weeks as goals pre-season?
How could you practice your resolutions so that come January 1st you will be well-positioned for success?
There's absolutely nothing magical about January 1st, but there also is something magical about January 1st.
That said, it won't be magical if you don't set yourself up to succeed just might get you in the right mindset.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
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