As the first full week of the New Year is done, we find ourselves reflecting on the brand new year’s resolutions we just made. Two that are usually on everyone’s list are to “work out” and “eat healthy.” One of my latest tweets said, “New Year's resolution to work out doesn't work because it's only for 1 day-Jan 1! We should have a DAILY resolution to work out instead!!” The same goes for eating healthy and also for other resolutions like the one I shared last week in my blog to read my Bible daily, or at least more often.
It is very hard to keep resolutions on a daily basis but I truly believe that if we don’t have a daily commitment to meet our goals they will simply not happen. Another resolution that I’ve made in the past is to have a “more balanced life.” I finally discovered that I should first make the “lifestyle and long-term decision” of having a balanced life. Then I can make the commitment to strive for a “daily balanced life.” This approach has helped me tremendously to achieve not only balance in my life but also the other goals, such as working out and eating healthy.
When we first make a decision to change something in our lifestyles, then we can break that into smaller “time periods” like annual, monthly, weekly and finally, daily. In addition to discovering and using this method, I also have discovered that when I pray and ask God to help me “TODAY” to achieve my goals, He comes through for me. I have to remember to ask Him every day to help me balance my day, to help me have the willpower to work out, and to say “no” to the foods that are harmful to my body. I remember when I was working at the bank and my days were filled with meetings to the point of becoming frozen and not knowing where to start with my work. I would say the following prayer, “God, please help me balance my day today. My calendar is in your hands. Please do something. I don’t know how I will get everything done. You are in charge.” Almost 100% of the times I prayed that prayer within a few minutes someone called me and cancelled a meeting. I would only look up and smile at God and said, “Thank you Lord. You did it again!” The amount of time I had freed up helped me to get the priorities done for the day.
In addition to that prayer, I also decided to spend more time with the Lord and every time I gave God my time, He multiplied it and somehow I always got everything done. It was supernatural. At the same time, on the natural side of things, I’ve have to learn to be extremely disciplined and organized with my time. I have learned to plan way ahead if I want something to come true in my life. I used that approach at work too. I planned with my employees all the projects we needed to get done for the year way ahead of time and we always finished the projects on time and avoided crisis. Why? Because we simply planned! It’s amazing what we can accomplish when we plan and stay focused—both at work and at home.
So today I encourage you to make “lifestyle decisions” versus “New Year resolutions.” Below are some tips that have helped me through my life that I hope may help you too:
Write down your priorities in life. For me they are: My relationship with God, family, career/work, community involvement.
Choose to have a balanced life by saying "no" to things that distract you from your priorities in life.
Ask God daily to help you balance your life.
Choose to be healthy by working out and eating healthy—daily.
Educate yourself on nutrition and how exercise works. Choose the workout plan that is good for your body. Each person is different and at various levels of fitness and ages.
Learn what foods may be harmful to your body. We are all unique and different. We react differently to the various foods we eat.
Do set goals but be realistic.
Ask God to help you with your will power to follow through with your goals.
Enjoy the journey and enjoy your life.
Lastly, if you start and fail, that’s ok. Do it again. In other words, Never stop starting!!