It’s time to find out your New You Day “WHY?”!

Note:  If you haven’t seen the previous posts,

“New You Day?“

“New You Day – Disclaimers / Guidelines“

- be sure to read them before continuing.

The very first step in the process of determining your New You Day Mentality is answering the question, “Why?”

Another way of framing it would be to ask, “What’s the thing (Or things) that keeps you up at night? What keeps a fire in your belly? What keeps you laser-focused on the prize?”

It might sound a little over-dramatic – but your “Why?” should make you cry. It needs to be something that you’re SO passionate about – failure in not protecting it isn’t even an option!

THAT is what will keep you on task!

Once you know that – AND you’ve picked the right “Why?” – NOTHING can stop you!

Examples of your “Why?” may be…

• Financial Freedom:
• No longer being broke – as opposed to having more month at the end of the money.
• Living paycheck to paycheck – or worse.
• Using Mastercard to pay Visa – and another card to pay another card (Essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul – and so on).
• Being able to go on a vacation – as opposed to a “STAYcation” (Where you STAY at home during time off at work).
• Being able to actively support your church, charities, and/or interests.
• Time / Family Freedom:
• Spending more time with your significant other.
• Being able to look after a loved one without the burden of time or money worrying you.
• Watching your kids grow up and spending quality time with them.
• Career Freedom:
• Making your own hours.
• Workshifting (Telecommuting) from wherever you choose – your home office, coffee shops, etc…
• Earning based on performance – rather than wage / salary.
• Deciding when you want to take off work – as opposed to being told when and/or being scared to in the first place.
• Health:
• Stopping a destructive habit such as smoking, drugs, over-eating, and/or alcohol.
• Getting into great physical condition.

Some of these may resonate with you – and some may be totally foreign.

Everyone has at least one “Why?” that THEY hold near and dear to their heart – and that’s all that matters.  It’s different for all of us!

If you do have more than one “Why?” – then rank them in order from most important to least important.  And then – focus on the ones with the utmost importance.

This exercise alone can cause a major New You Day Mentality to arise!

Even more powerful though is coupling it with the remaining 3 steps!

With that said – it’s time we move on to our next step.

“What?”

Stay tuned…

Would You Like To Know What A New You Day Is?

Hopefully the answer is, “Yes!”

And good for you!

You’re about to embark on an incredible journey of change and discovery in yourself!

And assuming you’re not a BONEHEAD (I’ll explain why I call myself in an upcoming post) like me – I’m also going to save you A LOT of time!

So what IS a ”New You Day”?

It seems like there’s a new challenge popping up every other day!

Some are 30-Day Challenges. Others are 90-Day Challenges. And I’ve even seen a couple 100-Day Challenges. Creating a challenge is easy – but STICKING to one can be difficult!

And before you think I’m about to bash challenges – don’t. I love ‘em! I support almost ANYTHING that motivates people to take action. But hear me out as to why challenges can be challenging.

Challenges are A LOT like New Year’s Resolutions – in that you make em’ with the best intentions of starting fresh with a new habit or discipline – and assign a time to it that’s usually too long.

What do I mean by too long? Let’s keep with the New Year’s Resolution example – and use exercise as the focus. People will say – “I’m going to hit the gym EVERY DAY this year!” And 10-Days (If they’re lucky!) into it – something happens where they miss a day. And because 365-Days were their intention – they’ll say, “Well – I’ve blown it! I might as well just go back to what I was doing.”

By the way – you’re NOT alone on that particular resolution. When January 1st (Or the first day the gym opens after the holiday) arrives – people are jammed up in lines fighting each other to get on machines. 30 days later you could shoot a cannon ball through the place and it wouldn’t hit a single person!

Another practice people adopt (yours truly included) after “blowing it” – as opposed to continuing the resolution or challenge – is starting back up next Monday, next week, the first of the month, or even NEXT New Year’s Day.

This is like saying, “I know I had a slight error in judgment – so I might as well get in as many more as I can until (The Next Date).”

Why do that to yourself?

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Don’t fight errors in judgment with errors in judgment! Two wrongs DON’T make a right! Instead use slight disciplines strung together to make up for a slip.

Another way to combat this is to avoid the feeling that long commitments in time (Such as a challenge) – have to be PERFECT!

And that’s precisely where a New You Day comes in! It allows you to keep commitments and should you encounter a wrinkle in your original plans – it allows you the opportunity to almost instantly reset and start over immediately.  NOT with a NEW Challenge – but continuing on within the one you’re in!

Now that you know the concept behind a New You Day – the next post will talk about some of the disclaimers and guidelines that make ‘em work.

Stay tuned…

Thank you to the brave souls that defend our country and way of life – past, present, and future!