New Year's Resolutions...Sort of
Happy New Year! I'm a little late, but that's my life right now. I have all sorts of things that I want to blog about, but I haven't had time. Shortly after my last post my kids went on Christmas break. Yeah, four kids at home all the time equals not a lot of "Me Time". I'm not complaining; I love my kids, but that's why it's been a while. They've returned to school and I've finally caught up enough to start blogging again.
I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions. The biggest reason is because I, like most people, don't keep them. I also don't want to wait for an arbitrary date to decide to make changes. I try to make them when I recognize the need. This year is different, although it's more a matter of timing than it being a new year. Over the last several weeks I've been really pondering over what I want and how to get it. I've realized that I have pieces to many puzzles, but they're all mixed together and missing their boxes. I've been reading a lot of health books and listening to podcasts to try to gather as much information to enable me to make an educated decision about my health. I've also prayed about it because who better to tell me what's best for my body than the person who created it.
One of my favorite podcasts is The Keto Diet. Some episodes really resonate with me while others, not so much. About a month ago I was listening to episode 7 featuring Gretchen Rubin*, and I felt like I was handed the box for one of my puzzles. I saw the picture, I recognized the pieces and I knew what I was making.
In the interview, Gretchen talked about her concept of The Four Tendencies. Basically, everyone fits into one of four tendencies: Rebel, Questioner, Upholder, and Obliger. A Rebel resists inner and outer expectations. A Questioner resists outer expectations, but meets inner expectations. An Upholder meets outer and inner expectations. An Obliger meets outer expectations, but resists inner expectations. I'm an Obliger. I can meet outer expectations like nobody's business. When I was an administrative assistant, I could take a simple PowerPoint Presentation or Excel Spreadsheet and make it glorious. Give me a deadline and not only will I be done early, but it will exceed your expectations. I loved my job and now I know why. I thrive under outer expectations, and yet when I make a goal for myself, I fail. In that 45 minute interview I not only learned why I fail, but how to overcome it. I need to create external accountability in order to be successful. Not just write it down for myself, but to actually tell someone who will hold me accountable. I was so surprised how freeing this information was. Suddenly all of my shortcomings made sense! It's not that I wasn't good enough or strong enough or motivated enough to do "X"; it's that I didn't understand myself enough to know how to be successful.
I'm going to be sharing my resolutions over the next few posts as I break each one down. I'm hoping that by publicly sharing them that I will create the outer expectation needed to be successful. I'm going to give updates on some of them so that I'm accountable to whomever reads this. Maybe it'll work, maybe not, but it's worth a shot!
*If you're interested in learning more about Gretchen's work, you can find her here: https://gretchenrubin.com/.
I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions. The biggest reason is because I, like most people, don't keep them. I also don't want to wait for an arbitrary date to decide to make changes. I try to make them when I recognize the need. This year is different, although it's more a matter of timing than it being a new year. Over the last several weeks I've been really pondering over what I want and how to get it. I've realized that I have pieces to many puzzles, but they're all mixed together and missing their boxes. I've been reading a lot of health books and listening to podcasts to try to gather as much information to enable me to make an educated decision about my health. I've also prayed about it because who better to tell me what's best for my body than the person who created it.
One of my favorite podcasts is The Keto Diet. Some episodes really resonate with me while others, not so much. About a month ago I was listening to episode 7 featuring Gretchen Rubin*, and I felt like I was handed the box for one of my puzzles. I saw the picture, I recognized the pieces and I knew what I was making.
In the interview, Gretchen talked about her concept of The Four Tendencies. Basically, everyone fits into one of four tendencies: Rebel, Questioner, Upholder, and Obliger. A Rebel resists inner and outer expectations. A Questioner resists outer expectations, but meets inner expectations. An Upholder meets outer and inner expectations. An Obliger meets outer expectations, but resists inner expectations. I'm an Obliger. I can meet outer expectations like nobody's business. When I was an administrative assistant, I could take a simple PowerPoint Presentation or Excel Spreadsheet and make it glorious. Give me a deadline and not only will I be done early, but it will exceed your expectations. I loved my job and now I know why. I thrive under outer expectations, and yet when I make a goal for myself, I fail. In that 45 minute interview I not only learned why I fail, but how to overcome it. I need to create external accountability in order to be successful. Not just write it down for myself, but to actually tell someone who will hold me accountable. I was so surprised how freeing this information was. Suddenly all of my shortcomings made sense! It's not that I wasn't good enough or strong enough or motivated enough to do "X"; it's that I didn't understand myself enough to know how to be successful.
I'm going to be sharing my resolutions over the next few posts as I break each one down. I'm hoping that by publicly sharing them that I will create the outer expectation needed to be successful. I'm going to give updates on some of them so that I'm accountable to whomever reads this. Maybe it'll work, maybe not, but it's worth a shot!
*If you're interested in learning more about Gretchen's work, you can find her here: https://gretchenrubin.com/.
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