Use your energy wisely and find a new you
Expert techniques
Now your dynamo is ready to do her thing, but you need Step 3 to learn how to pace yourself so "you're not spending 85 per cent of your daily energy quota on a half-hour meeting or one week's training session," says Earle. Using techniques such as repeating affirmations of your abilities, you consciously regulate your body so you're "losing as little energy as possible," he adds. Depending on your physical and emotional strength at the outset, the three steps can begin to work in a few days.
But if you still find yourself stalling on the details -- the proper running shoes you need to buy, the volunteer registry you need to call or the appointment with the loan officer you need to make -- break down your goals into "turtle steps" that you can accomplish with ease, suggests Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live (Three Rivers, 2002). For example, if you want to start running, begin with a five-minute session. "Trust me," writes Beck, "slow and steady wins more races...."Reach your goals
The slow-and-steady approach worked for Barbara: it helped her overcome her inner gremlin and reach her weight and fitness goals. "I worked with a personal coach, who taught me how to recognize my gremlin, or self-defeating thoughts, and separate it from myself," she explains. Next, Barbara and her coach worked on finding solutions for each challenge in her life makeover. "We broke everything down into individual problems and solutions, so everything became manageable," she says.
The process proved so inspiring for Barbara that she decided to take an accreditation course and become a personal coach herself. Within the past six months she has accomplished this goal, given seminars at a fitness centre and launched a networking group for women. While her days used to roll by with mind-numbing predictability, "it now seems like every day I'm doing something new," says Barbara. "And I rarely turn on the TV."
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Now your dynamo is ready to do her thing, but you need Step 3 to learn how to pace yourself so "you're not spending 85 per cent of your daily energy quota on a half-hour meeting or one week's training session," says Earle. Using techniques such as repeating affirmations of your abilities, you consciously regulate your body so you're "losing as little energy as possible," he adds. Depending on your physical and emotional strength at the outset, the three steps can begin to work in a few days.
But if you still find yourself stalling on the details -- the proper running shoes you need to buy, the volunteer registry you need to call or the appointment with the loan officer you need to make -- break down your goals into "turtle steps" that you can accomplish with ease, suggests Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live (Three Rivers, 2002). For example, if you want to start running, begin with a five-minute session. "Trust me," writes Beck, "slow and steady wins more races...."Reach your goals
The slow-and-steady approach worked for Barbara: it helped her overcome her inner gremlin and reach her weight and fitness goals. "I worked with a personal coach, who taught me how to recognize my gremlin, or self-defeating thoughts, and separate it from myself," she explains. Next, Barbara and her coach worked on finding solutions for each challenge in her life makeover. "We broke everything down into individual problems and solutions, so everything became manageable," she says.
The process proved so inspiring for Barbara that she decided to take an accreditation course and become a personal coach herself. Within the past six months she has accomplished this goal, given seminars at a fitness centre and launched a networking group for women. While her days used to roll by with mind-numbing predictability, "it now seems like every day I'm doing something new," says Barbara. "And I rarely turn on the TV."
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