When the Survivor series began in November, we focused on the formal public holidays: the ones with red dates on the calendar and greeting cards in the stores. We explored core holiday values such as gratitude, religious purpose, generosity, and new beginnings. And, in the pursuit of a happier, healthier, and more peaceful season, we have been setting goals and monitoring progress from week to week.
Today I invite you to consider yet another key component of year-end (and beginning) in our culture: football tournaments and championship games. My fellow coach and buddy, Jen, employed a goal-post reference in her Facebook post this week. Her analogy challenged me to reflect once again on goals, success and celebration.
So often we set personal goals on a par with solving the economic crisis and securing world peace. As we look forward into a new year and its inevitable resolutions, we are tempted to build a long and comprehensive self-improvement list. Before long, the list yellows and crumples and falls to the bottom of our pile. Reality re-asserts itself. We resign ourselves again to the fact that this will not be the year for losing 40 pounds, running a marathon, mastering Tai Chi, or learning Hindi. We sign up for the 8-week fitness program, and go twice. Santa brings a home gym, but we don’t get around to clearing space and setting it up. Sigh.
You may wonder what happened to the football game. I’m getting there. The goal post represents a critical element of success in football. Touchdowns make a bigger impression, but field goals and “extra points” often win or lose the game. We Montana Grizzly fans are painfully aware of the field goal that almost-but-didn’t happen in the championship game this year.
Likewise, when building new and healthier habits, the one-point victories are critical to winning the game and, eventually, the season. What are you most proud of doing yesterday to enhance your well-being? What will define success today? Share your intent with a buddy and celebrate success together. When you miss an extra point, review the tapes and adjust your approach.
When it comes to goalposts in the personal improvement game, I also encourage you to “set them wide and set them low.” Success is built, one point at a time, by taking on the “do-able,” today and again tomorrow.
Wishing you a happy and healthy transition to the New Year.
GO TEAM!
Pam
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Holiday Survivor: Staying the Course
Here we are, entering Week 5 of the season that began with turkey, cranberries, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. As we have reflected together on holiday wellness, I have encouraged a process of setting do-able weekly goals that support your personal holiday values. If you are like most of us, some weeks worked better than others, some goals made a difference, and some did not survive the competition with other priorities.
With 11 days to go in 2009, how do we look at the process of establishing and maintaining habits that support the life we want to live? Are health and well-being a project we take on a few weeks at a time, once or twice a year? Or are they core elements of our life’s journey? If the former, we might drop those good intentions now and pick them up again on January 2. If the latter, we will continue using this time of extra challenge to develop skills and strengths to enter the New Year with optimism and conviction.
Let’s look at the next few days as if they were the home stretch on a long run or hike or bike ride or river trip. Since Thanksgiving we have enjoyed many holiday experiences. We have also, quite likely, gotten a flat tire, skinned a knee, or flipped in the rapids. What did we do after things went awry? Maybe we stopped, had a fit, and gave up on the trip. Maybe we allowed ourselves to remain crabby for several days, looking for someone to blame. Or maybe, like my buddy Cristi (after her Christmas tree blew off the car and the car later caught on fire and the brakes and steering went out) you laughed and said “at least no one was hurt.”
Cristi is a role model for me this season. She reminds me to take it in stride and enjoy the ride. Treat the holiday experience as a journey. Release the idea of a perfect destination. Assemble a flexible array of activities and traditions you might enjoy, then choose “in the moment” the ones that fit best for you and yours. If you try something and it doesn’t work, let go, laugh, and give thanks for the chance to learn. Stay the course.
If you can maintain a spirit of adventure and flexibility, you will be well on your way to a happy new year. You will savor the memories of lovely moments and passing stresses. You will celebrate successes. You will have energy for a surge into new beginnings. You will view those New Year’s resolutions as building on progress, not making up for past “sins.”
So, which will it be for you? What one small thing will you do in the coming week to stay the course and honor those core holiday values that mean the most?
Until the next time, go well.
Pam
With 11 days to go in 2009, how do we look at the process of establishing and maintaining habits that support the life we want to live? Are health and well-being a project we take on a few weeks at a time, once or twice a year? Or are they core elements of our life’s journey? If the former, we might drop those good intentions now and pick them up again on January 2. If the latter, we will continue using this time of extra challenge to develop skills and strengths to enter the New Year with optimism and conviction.
Let’s look at the next few days as if they were the home stretch on a long run or hike or bike ride or river trip. Since Thanksgiving we have enjoyed many holiday experiences. We have also, quite likely, gotten a flat tire, skinned a knee, or flipped in the rapids. What did we do after things went awry? Maybe we stopped, had a fit, and gave up on the trip. Maybe we allowed ourselves to remain crabby for several days, looking for someone to blame. Or maybe, like my buddy Cristi (after her Christmas tree blew off the car and the car later caught on fire and the brakes and steering went out) you laughed and said “at least no one was hurt.”
Cristi is a role model for me this season. She reminds me to take it in stride and enjoy the ride. Treat the holiday experience as a journey. Release the idea of a perfect destination. Assemble a flexible array of activities and traditions you might enjoy, then choose “in the moment” the ones that fit best for you and yours. If you try something and it doesn’t work, let go, laugh, and give thanks for the chance to learn. Stay the course.
If you can maintain a spirit of adventure and flexibility, you will be well on your way to a happy new year. You will savor the memories of lovely moments and passing stresses. You will celebrate successes. You will have energy for a surge into new beginnings. You will view those New Year’s resolutions as building on progress, not making up for past “sins.”
So, which will it be for you? What one small thing will you do in the coming week to stay the course and honor those core holiday values that mean the most?
Until the next time, go well.
Pam
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Holiday Survivor: It’s an Energy Thing
Mid-December is a great time to revisit my favorite energy book, The Power of Full Engagement. Those who have been reading Reflections for awhile will remember authors Jim Loehr, Tony Schwartz, and their concept of oscillation.
According to Loehr and Schwartz, humans have an internal energy cycle that turns over every 90-120 minutes or so. They recommend that we design our time with a cycle of effort and recovery that taps into the natural cycles. If we oscillate between energy output and energy intake, we will be more effective in sustaining productivity over the long haul.
It is so easy this time of year to run on overload. We act on the illusion that we will get more done if we rise early, push hard, and go to bed late. We skip our workouts, go shopping during lunch hour, and move from daytime work into evening commitments without a break. Is it surprising that fatigue and poor health often flow from such a schedule?
What would it take to manage a holiday schedule that incorporates both periods of exertion and periods of recovery?
Look at the week ahead. Pick a day or two that present a particular challenge to your energy. Apply creative purpose to the challenge of designing that day with oscillation. After baking or writing cards for an hour or so, sit down and read the paper for 15 minutes. At work, schedule a 15-minute walk with a friend after focusing on a single project for 90 minutes. Commit to leaving early for the Christmas concert, so you can find parking and a seat and still have 20 minutes to stare into space before the music begins.
Oscillation counters the impulse to work on everything at once, or to skip from task to task in units of minutes rather than hours. The discipline of alternating exertion with recovery is useful any time of year. It is especially helpful now.
Until the next time, go well.
Pam
According to Loehr and Schwartz, humans have an internal energy cycle that turns over every 90-120 minutes or so. They recommend that we design our time with a cycle of effort and recovery that taps into the natural cycles. If we oscillate between energy output and energy intake, we will be more effective in sustaining productivity over the long haul.
It is so easy this time of year to run on overload. We act on the illusion that we will get more done if we rise early, push hard, and go to bed late. We skip our workouts, go shopping during lunch hour, and move from daytime work into evening commitments without a break. Is it surprising that fatigue and poor health often flow from such a schedule?
What would it take to manage a holiday schedule that incorporates both periods of exertion and periods of recovery?
Look at the week ahead. Pick a day or two that present a particular challenge to your energy. Apply creative purpose to the challenge of designing that day with oscillation. After baking or writing cards for an hour or so, sit down and read the paper for 15 minutes. At work, schedule a 15-minute walk with a friend after focusing on a single project for 90 minutes. Commit to leaving early for the Christmas concert, so you can find parking and a seat and still have 20 minutes to stare into space before the music begins.
Oscillation counters the impulse to work on everything at once, or to skip from task to task in units of minutes rather than hours. The discipline of alternating exertion with recovery is useful any time of year. It is especially helpful now.
Until the next time, go well.
Pam
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Holiday Survivor: Find a Buddy, Be a Buddy
Wellbuddies Coaching takes its name from the importance of partners on the journey to health and happiness. Surviving the holidays and celebrating success on New Year’s Day are more likely to happen if we do it together.
Buddies are found in many places, and they support one another in different ways. My weekly Weight Watchers® meeting is a major source of support when it comes to healthy eating and weight management. Joan, Gail, and I maintained a recent hiking commitment in the face of unplanned snow, rain, fog, and mud. Ann and I meet for a long run, even when the overnight low leaves frost on the grass. Jane and I exchange e-mails almost daily, supporting one another from a distance through the peaks and valleys of work and family life, eating, exercise, and energy. Finally, I am working with my life partner Lyle to plan holiday travel and family visits that include physical activity, nutritious eating, and adequate rest.
How might you engage with others in a spirit of mutual support during this time of accelerated stress and busy-ness? Meet for physical activity. Brainstorm ideas for dealing with stress. Share healthy recipes. Check in by phone or e-mail to encourage one another’s commitment to holiday goals. Serve as a sounding board for frustrations and setbacks, then encourage a fresh start and sustained effort.
Who are your wellbuddies? Which aspects of your wellness journeys do you share? What will you do in the coming week to offer support your buddies, and to ask for theirs?
Until the next time, go well.
Pam
Buddies are found in many places, and they support one another in different ways. My weekly Weight Watchers® meeting is a major source of support when it comes to healthy eating and weight management. Joan, Gail, and I maintained a recent hiking commitment in the face of unplanned snow, rain, fog, and mud. Ann and I meet for a long run, even when the overnight low leaves frost on the grass. Jane and I exchange e-mails almost daily, supporting one another from a distance through the peaks and valleys of work and family life, eating, exercise, and energy. Finally, I am working with my life partner Lyle to plan holiday travel and family visits that include physical activity, nutritious eating, and adequate rest.
How might you engage with others in a spirit of mutual support during this time of accelerated stress and busy-ness? Meet for physical activity. Brainstorm ideas for dealing with stress. Share healthy recipes. Check in by phone or e-mail to encourage one another’s commitment to holiday goals. Serve as a sounding board for frustrations and setbacks, then encourage a fresh start and sustained effort.
Who are your wellbuddies? Which aspects of your wellness journeys do you share? What will you do in the coming week to offer support your buddies, and to ask for theirs?
Until the next time, go well.
Pam
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