This could save you some heartache…

Hey everyone, it’s Pat here. I’m just hopping on this Facebook Live. It’s very impromptu and very unlike me to not plan ahead with notes on what I want to talk about. Here’s the thing. I was just out for a walk with a colleague, and it inspired some thoughts that I decided I want to just sit down and do this impromptu, just like my friend, Ron Baker, does often, and put these thoughts out there to you.

It was kind of nasty out there, and it just reminded me that we’re heading into winter. We just changed our clocks. That causes certain thoughts for people, and for me, it just reminded me that for the months of November and December, we head into what many people will call a stressful time, and as far as I’m concerned, a lot of that stress is self-imposed. It really is, and so what also prompted this Facebook Live is I just posted on my page that I am doing a mental wellness challenge for this month, and today was about setting some short-term goals, and I even put them out there for you.

As I was writing out the goals, I was thinking that this is a habit that most of us need to get into on a daily basis. It’s something I do, and I know it certainly keeps me on track, but many of you don’t. There are a few things I wanted to share with you.

One was, this walk was prompted today, midday, by a colleague who’s in my private health and wellness forum, and she was saying one of her goals is to walk daily as part of her fitness program, but her challenge is that she finds it hard to get motivated because she’s on her own. I said, “Well, you only live a block or two from me. I’ll walk with you, and let’s get this party rolling.” So we did and we went out together, and it was fun and it’s enjoyable, and I know, as does my accountability buddy, Kathleen Gage, that having an accountability buddy, somebody who will hold your feet to the fire, somebody who will cheer you on, somebody who makes a goal enjoyable, that will contribute to your success.

So my first tip to all of you is when you set a goal, I would encourage you to add an accountability buddy to that goal because the likelihood of success would be through the roof and it would be much more fun too, and you can celebrate together. That’s one thing.

The second thing on that mental wellness challenge, go to my page, scroll down here and you’ll see what I listed. I put my three goals down there and what I realized again, as I was writing this out, what that does is it helps me say no to many other things and to stay very focused on what it is I want to accomplish, and so it is, because at the end of the day I can go check, check, check.

I even listed my goals to share with you how simple this is because the other thing I’ve observed in the last many months is many people don’t know how to set goals. They don’t. They’ve never been taught that, and for me, it’s kind of intuitive. It’s the way I was trained, and I’ve had great mentors, so I wanted to demonstrate that to you. In setting your goals clearly, confidently, and writing them down and then sharing them with people who will support you, then you’re more likely to succeed and you’ll make progress, which again is a cause for celebration and will keep you focused, as opposed to distracted, will keep you on track so that you say yes to what you need to do and no to whatever else is put in your face, because again, November and December can be a time of all those bright shiny objects that could be appealing and take you away from what it is you want to do.

Thirdly, when it comes to your health and wellness, I’ve recognized, particularly in that Facebook group, and this is relevant to all Facebook groups, is that many of us put up our hands and join groups, and that’s where it ends. You don’t fully participate, you don’t engage, you don’t commit, you don’t comment. You just lurk and scroll on through.

My tip to you is go back to the groups that you’re in, get out of the groups, take that stress out of your life, have no guilt about it, and stay focused on, again, three goals that you have, and if it’s around health and wellness, join a health and wellness group. Come on in to mine, but only if you’re fully committed. I’ve got lurkers in my group too and I just fail to understand that mindset. However, I do understand, after all the years of coaching and human behavior study, that that is the way people are.

There’s only 5-10% of people who know their goals, write down their goals, follow through on their goals, and this comes to groups on Facebook too. So if you’re part of a group and you’re not participating, get the heck out of there. Unless you’re all in and you’re fully committed, get out of there and free yourself. Free your energy, free the guilt, and where there are groups of like-minded people with similar goals, get in there and get all in, and participate. You’ll feel so much better and so much more supported because of that.

Bottom line is get clear, be committed, keep it simple, follow through, and keep the power of your word because when you pop into any group, you pop into any commitment, and then you don’t show up, that really diminishes the power of your word, and if you’re lying to yourself, that transfers over into other areas of your life too, so boost your own credibility, your own integrity, and be true to yourself, and I would say to you, health is your wealth. Health is my wealth, and that is where I’m fully engaged these days.

If you want to join us over there, you’re more than welcome. It is by invitation and you need to be committed, and I’ll tell you, keeping a focus on your health over the next two months, that is going to set you up for success. There you go. That’s it, keeping it simple and it’s all to living your best life. Talk to you later.