Day 1: 4 new habits in 28 days - Goal Setting

And we're off.

Update: Day 1 of 28 days to embed 4 new habits - in my case habits that support my arthritic knees. Although this process of adopting new habits, by committing to do them for 28 days, can be applied to any habit in work, life or play! 

So do please join me as you also adopt a new habit or two, allowing us to silence the old habits' whisperings, and face the challenges together.

Progress made on day 1 was:

1. I will eat gluten free every day (not just when i feel like it) - achieved - although easier than when I first went GF four years ago - I just need to be consistent 
2. I will do my hip mobilisation daily -  achieved but again easily because we did it as part of personal training 
3. I will keep sufficiently hydrated - easy to say achieved as I failed to set a target - oops
4. I will do one thing differently every day - achieved - I cleaned my teeth using my left hand! More on why I've chosen this as new habit in a future blog.

Observation: 

Sh%T - too many things to think about - how will I measure progress, what's my end goal, why am I doing this, how will I share my progress and .... what about doing some work and not blogging ..... oh and what were the 4 new habits I said I wanted to commit to. Just starting to realise why it's best to keep it to one new habit not four!

First thing I need to do is understand why I'm wanting to make the commitment in the first place. What's the reason - the 'why' behind making the effort.

For me the why is about improved flexibility, stamina and less pain in my knees. Although as I type I realise that's not enough of a why - what will having that flexibility and stamina do for me in life - what will it allow me to do that I can't do at the moment. In other words what's my vision. To get a better understanding of this I realise a well formed outcome will help, and commit to do this over the weekend.

I also realise I need to understand where I am in relation to my goal currently. That way any progress made over the 28 days can provide the added motivation to stick with the new habits. My personal trainer and I chatted about these, and by Monday will have the 'current situation' logged.

I then need to double check that these new habits will support me achieving this goal. I suspect there are other new habits, and if I can get these cracked first it will make everything else a lot easier to do.

Other activities undertaken to support my knees:

Having found it easy to beat myself up in the past for not making progress, I realise there are other activities that I'm already doing on a daily basis to support my goal of flexible and pain free knees. In order to stop the beatings I'm going to remind myself daily of what these additional activities are:. 

• Marjoram essential oil in my bath
• Beetroot in my risotto 
• Ginger with lemon in hot water first thing 
• Flat and cushioned footwear - for work, rest and play

What would help you to pat yourself on the back daily?

I'd love to hear how you got on, and the challenges you're facing as we adopt new habits in our lives.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring Change - Inside and Out

Hypertext links in the text above link to previous blogs written on the subject either here on The Purchasing Coach site or over on my Landscaping Your Life site where I use nature as a metaphor and teacher for our lives. 

Anyone with osteoarthritis may also want to review my Pinterest board with over 150 links on how you might be able to improve living with arthritis. In addition to keeping hydrated and eating gluten free these also include use of beetroot, ginger and marjoram.

#28daychallenge

Break out of the Mould

Such a great visual I thought to summarise this series of blogs that has explored:

• We are capable of much more than we think we are - I was reminded of this again last night as I watched Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew. I wrote this blog last year after watching a similar group of "middle aged" women defy their own expectations of what was possible. 
• Making small changes can help us expand our comfort zone.
• Small changes can be in the office, or
• Small changes can be with suppliers or stakeholders and take relationships to the next level.
• Patience not speed is sometimes required :-).

Life is a constant series of breaking the mold moments. Once we've broken free from the current box it's easy to just find a bigger box. Staying conscious is the key to ensuring we stay free of any box.

Alison Smith
Inspiring Change Inside and Out

Comfort zones in relationships

Picture Oprah.com

Change is inevitable in working relationships. Whether that change however is embraced or not will be a function of how much all concerned currently operate in a relationship comfort zone.

Previous blogs have touched on the impact small changes can make to expanding our comfort zone both personally and at work. The premise being if we're constantly making small changes the bigger changes are more likely to be embraced than we're firmly stuck in our comfort zone day in day out.

Don't get me wrong many of these daily habits may be the most efficient and effective ways of doing something - you'll soon realise which they are and revert to the tried and trusted ways of behaving. The challenge is sometimes these habits have become unconscious and may no longer be effective nor efficient. How will you know unless you test them?

Today I'd like to make some suggestions of those small changes that can be made in working relationships that would foster a culture that embraces change.

• Speaking to different people rather than always ringing the same person to sort out a problem
• Changing the agenda for regular meetings, or their time or duration
• Changing the venue for these meetings - what about a museum, park or coffee shop or where the goods or services are delivered
• Discussing To-Be lists not To-Do lists
• Picking up the phone more to discuss issues rather than rely on emails
• Appreciate the things that are going well (one that often gets forgotten)

I'd love to hear your suggestions of what changes you might want to try? Do let me know how you get on too.

Alison Smith
Inspiring Change Inside and Out

Be the change

On Friday I said that we were all capable of so much more than we thought. I ended the blog encouraging you and me to expand our comfort zones so that we could understand this more fully.

I wondered about what I might do and realised it's not always the big things that can expand our comfort zones. It's all the little habits that we have that also reinforce the safety of staying as we are.

So I set about doing the little things differently and here's what I managed to do:

• Had a shower and not a bath each morning
• Ate at the table not the sofa
• Ate breakfast on the beach (not that much of a change except I've not done that for months)
• Drove at the speed limit
• Didn't watch TV for a day
• Took a different route into town
• Went to a different supermarket
• Went down different aisles at the normal supermarket
• Drank normal not herbal tea!!

The last of these are unlikely to be repeated but the others all enabled me to understand that habits can sometimes limit our lives in ways we're not aware of. Try it and see for yourself.

To help give you some ideas other things I considered doing, and may yet try this week, included:

• Brushing my teeth with my left hand
• Sitting on a different sofa in the lounge
• Wearing different clothes
• Going to bed earlier
• Getting up earlier
• Starting the day with exercise/meditation 

It will be interesting to see how all the small changes I made over the weekend, the small expansions of my comfort zone, will prepare me for some bigger changes in the week ahead. I'll keep you posted.

Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out

More here on the small changes we might want to make at work and in our relationships.

Going too fast

On Friday's blog I set myself a goal of doing things differently. The intention being to see how all the little daily habits might be constraining my comfort zone. 

There's more on tomorrow's blog on what I discovered. I just wanted to share the hardest habit to break - speeding!!

I decided to ensure I kept to the speed limit - not 33 - not the same as everyone else - but the speed limit - whether 30/40 or 50 miles per hour.

In keeping to the speed limit I realised how frustrated I was feeling, how impatient. 

It made me wonder how much of my life this need for a faster pace was affecting?  To find out I'm going to attempt to go at the speed limit of life this week - to go with, not fight against, the flow. No idea what that looks or feels like but I'm going to give it a go. I'll let you know how I get on. 

 

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out

Comfort zones

Time and time again I have seen the evidence that we can do more than we think we can - both for myself and others.

Spending a night in a sleeping bag on just a plastic sheet in the wind and rain for Bite night was such an occasion when I realised I had more resilience than I thought. That resilience stayed with me for a while before I forgot about what I was capable of and slipped back into my cosy comfort zone.

Last year Davina McCall's and Alex Jones's physical feats for Comic Relief stayed with me many many weeks. They both inspired me to try harder in personal training, and to stretch myself at work. After a while I forgot and slipped unknowingly back into my comfort zone.

Last night I saw such determination again and hope that it stays with me for some time, and that I manage to stay conscious and expand my comfort zone as a result.

I was watching Season 6 of MasterChef Australia. The episode (10 for anyone interested) involved 3 wannabe chef's fighting for survival. They were asked to cook a very elaborate 'rivers and seas' dish. Technique was needed at every turn and they only had the recipe to guide them. For the trio many of the techniques were new and would normally take years of practise to get right - they only had 2 hours!

All 3 struggled and Nick was the ultimate loser on the night. It was however Sean's journey that inspired me the most. When faced with something new he did what I think most of us can find ourselves doing - he panicked. He demonstrated every cliche going - headless chicken, running around in circles, rabbit in the headlights. Those looking on kept reminding him to breathe. He forgot to enjoy what he was doing and could be heard repeatedly saying "I can't do this."

I can only imagine what made Sean persevere - but persevere he did - and presented a plate that enabled him to stay in the competition. Shortly after the above picture he said "if you'd shown me this plate 2 hours ago and told me it was mine I'd have said you were a liar."

None of us know what we are truly capable of and often only find out when pushed to do so.

My coach has just called and asked, after I'd told her I was writing this blog, "So how will you expand your comfort zone this weekend?" - I'll let you know next week - what about you - how will you expand your comfort zone?

Alison Smith
Inspiring Change inside and out