Creating “Wins” Daily

Yesterday I asked the question, “How is your life different today than it was the same day last week.”  Personally, I couldn’t answer in the positive because I hadn’t made any significant changes for the better from week to week.  I came up with a personal challenge today while at lunch that will help me to meet my goals for the next year.  I figured if I get so many “wins” per week I would be that much closer to my goals.

First, we need to write our 5 year vision.  What do you want your life to look at spiritually, with your family, professionally, personal development, physical health, financial and socially/community?

Below are the areas in my life that I am going to try to “win” at daily, which in turn will help me “win” monthly and yearly.  I made some suggestions for myself on what a “win” in each category would be, but I can always add more “wins” as they happen.  Feel free to add some suggested “wins” if you can think of some. :)

Let me know if you decide to do this!  I would love a Life “Wins” Running Buddy to help me stay accountable!!  We need to give ourselves more credit for what we DO do, instead of ONLY beating ourselves up over what we don’t do.  Or letting ourselves slack over things we shouldn’t slack at.

Rules:

Multiple wins can be done per category per day. 

Each month I want to track how many “wins” I get and then try to increase it.  Maybe give myself a reward each quarter?  Like maybe XX-XX wins equal X prize for me. 

Write down your “wins” each day so you can go back and remember them on “bad days” when you need a little encouragement.

Spiritual Life

Go to church

Having a quiet time

Pray at every meal

Pray at night before I go to sleep

Invite someone to church

Pray with someone

Pray for someone

Go to a Bible study

Thank God for all the blessings as you see them

Volunteer at church or church event

Family Life

Talk to a family member

Spend time with a family member (quality time-no phone or TV!)

Professional Life

Get 5 New Leads a Day

Place 2 bookings on calendar a day

Sell $100

Have a party

Listen to the Million $ Message

Say business daily affirmations

Add someone to my team

Personal Development

Read 1 chapter of a personal development book

Listen to a training/motivational/sermon while getting dressed

Listen to a training/motivational/sermon while commuting to work/errands

Say personal daily affirmations

Read my 5 year life vision

Post a positive message on social media to inspire others

Say NO when someone tries to gossip to you

Slap my wrist when I try to gossip about someone (stop yourself before saying it)

Physical Health

Workout at Curves

Walk 1 Mile (1 “win” for each mile)

Get 10,000 steps on my fitbit

Eating a lean protein

Have a salad with an oil/vinegar dressing-no white stuff

Have a broth based soup before  a meal (or as a meal)

Bringing my lunch to work (healthy, no leftovers)

Walk the dog around the block

Do 30 minutes of exercise (non-Curves)

Resist something bad to eat

Lose 1 lb

Fit into the clothing size below

Sign up for a race or other physical challenge that you would need to train for

Financial Health

Bringing my lunch to work (homemade-not leftovers)

Saving $100 each week (1 “win” for each $100)

Earn and extra $30 (and save it)

Only 1 “cheat meal” a week

Social Life/Community Life

Seeing 1 friend in person

Talking to 1 friend

Doing a bucket list item

Doing a bucket list item with 1 or more friends

Trying something new

Sending an encouraging note to someone

Make someone smile

Do a random act of kindness

Give someone a (honest) compliment

Connect with an old friend

Have a friend workout with you

Meet a new friend while working out

Send a care package

Say “yes” to something you normally would say “no” to

How Is Your Life Different From Last Week?

How is your life different from one week ago?  I’ve had this thought running through my head for the past few weeks.  I get paid on Tuesdays and I was thinking about how much I saved from one week to the next.  Or how much I SPENT from last week to the next.  Or how much I have paid towards my student loans from last week to the next. Etc. etc. etc.

THEN I got to thinking, how has my LIFE changed from one week to the next. Did you make a step forward or backward in your career?  Did you make a step forward or backward in your relationship?  Did you make a step forward or backward in your walk with God?  Did you make a step forward or backward in your fitness?

To have a good YEAR you need good MONTHS.  For good MONTHS you need to have good WEEKS.  To have good WEEKS you need to have good DAYS.  To have good DAYS you need to have good HOURS.  To have good HOURS you need good Minutes. 

Let’s take the fitness example.  My goal is to lose 30 lbs this year.  Broken down by months that is 2.5 lbs per MONTH (OK, side note…as I am breaking it down by pound/month I am thinking I’m going to UP my goal, but for this post, I will keep it since I already did the math).  Or .625  lbs per week or .089 lbs per day.  Totally Do-able.

YOU CAN START A DIET IN THE MIDDLE OF A BAG OF POTATO CHIPS.

 

He looks so sad, doesn't he?  Lay's ARE really good though

So why don’t we?  We (or at least I do) WHINE and COMPLAIN that we are overweight or that we aren’t where we want to be in life.  We scroll through Facebook or Instagram and see other’s “achieving” the goals we set out for ourselves and then feel deflated because we don’t have those things. 

Two things:  

1.  FB is someone’s highlight reel and our reality is our entire movie.  We can’t judge our circumstances by their highlight reel. 

2.  We are quick to be envious of that person but we aren’t looking at the WORK it took to get there.  Granted, some people seem like they are given things (sometimes that’s true) but for the vast majority of people, they WORKED for it.  You only see the beautiful ballerina that is so graceful, while you trip going UP the stairs (that happened to me last week-yes, going UP).  You don’t see her aching, calloused feet beneath her satin slippers.  You don’t see that sales person bust their ass to earn that trip of a lifetime, you only get to see the pictures of them taking selfies from the Eiffel Tower on said trip.

 

Sorry (not sorry) for the graphic ballerina picture.

So, what can YOU (me included) do to make your life your dream life TODAY?  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time. 

Maybe you sell something that you bought that you don’t need anymore (did you ever need that??) and set that money aside for a debt payment.  Or you make that profile on match.com to see if you can find that one fish in the sea.  Or maybe you cannot eat that rice krispie treat that you REALLY WANTED at Newk’s today at lunch and eat fruit instead.   Or go walk a mile because you don’t can’t seem to do three miles right now.  Baby steps.

 

I love this movie BTW!!

So, anyone with me to make a change TODAY and then the next day and then the next day for your business, personal life, spiritual life, financial life, etc. better for tomorrow and then a month from now, and then a year from now?  The baby steps you take will create a snowball effect on your life to make you that much closer to your dream life and your dream circumstances.

Game Plan:

1.  Make a list of what you want your life to look like within 5 years.  Salary, relationships, financial fitness, physical fitness, etc. 

2.  Break that down by year. Then by months, days, hours, minutes, etc.  Keep in mind that you can't break it down exactly evenly.  Your snowball will take effect at some point and you will begin to see the "light at the end of the tunnel" and start to move faster towards you goal.   

3.  Start with one change at a time, otherwise you might become overwhelmed.  Example:  Don't plan on getting up at 5 am EVERY DAY, NO MATTER WHAT to workout and have a quiet time. Maybe get up 30 minutes earlier for a few weeks to do one or the other.  Then in a few weeks time, get up another 30 minutes earlier to do the other one.  Then a few weeks later add something else.  If you make it your goal to go to the gym for 3 hours a day, but you are tired (burned out) or have errands to run, you will beat yourself up for not doing the "NO MATTER WHAT" scenario in your head, which will leave you deflated and make you want to give up.  Baby Steps.

4.  Give your self a break.  

Remember, ALL OF THE WISHES AND PLAN MAKING WON'T WORK UNTIL YOU TAKE ACTION ON YOUR DREAMS.  You can WISH all you want but you have to go to WORK.

 I'm working on all of these things by the way.  Writing it all out helps me pinpoint my feelings.  I'm not preaching...unless you take it and run with it-then it's all me. LOL. :)