HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
As we strike the old calendar and begin a new trip around the sun, I’m spending this morning thinking on past lessons and how I can implement them in 2022. Last year was…..well as complicated as 2021 can be. The best word I’ve come up with to describe it is: interesting. I had many successes and of course, many failures as well.
That being said, it’s a new year and I have BIG GOALS. Most of them revolve around real estate and fitness. We’re expanding our team and doubling the amount of clients we want to help with their real estate needs (anyone looking to buy or sell this year?). Fitness-wise, my goal is to gain 20lbs of muscle, improve my mobility, and learn Krav Maga. I’ve always been fascinated by martial arts and this is the year I’m jumping into it!
This bring’s me to the topic this blog The Challenge. One of my great moments that came out of 2021 was meeting with a dear friend for coffee in October at one of my favorite spots, MESH in Redondo Beach. We both weren’t where we wanted to be with fitness. I’m sure you can relate. Work gets busy, maybe you have family/kids, and you get lost in the daily grind. No kids for me, but work and in the evenings, just blahhh laziness. That drive wasn’t there. We both knew we needed accountability - an immediate cost to not doing the things we need to do. The thing about working out is that results are delayed. You won’t feel the repercussions of your habits until a while later when you’re looking in the mirror weeks later wondering what happened. And of course holding ourselves accountable is great…until it’s not and we decide that pillow looks more and more comfy. Or…I really should be working on that file instead of working out. No no, we needed to hold each other accountable. We came up with November Fit. Three daily tasks to do every single day. If we don’t, $15 goes into a jar for EACH of the things we missed. At the end of the month, we switch jars. That’s a total of $1350 at stake (!!) for each of us if we do nothing.
My 3:
Eat within 9:30 AM - 7:30 PM window. 3 meals plus a large smoothie. No alcohol.
Drink 100 fl oz of water daily
Workout - 45min minimum 6 days per week. 7th day is a 40min stretch session.
Log everything in a shared notes app and upload pics of everything we eat to a shared photo album. Again, accountability.
It’s imperative that the parameters are inputs and not outputs. We had to track our habits, not our results. There’s no point punishing ourselves for elements outside of our control - that doesn’t do anyone any good. Inputs are things you have complete control over - think habits. You either get it done or you don’t. It’s okay to fail, sometimes it’s necessary. It’s not okay to not try. Your effort is what matters most.
Let me tell you, with only $45 in my jar, I completely surpassed November’s goal. Having $15 at stake for every task, every day, makes choices so much easier.
“Som would you like a glass a wine?” - No, thank you (that’s now a $15 glass of wine!)
20 ounces of water away from my daily intake - Are you kidding me?! I’m not losing $15 to WATER. Come on!
2 meals in and I’m too tired to cook? — Not happening. I can buy a $15 meal for that and hit my goal. That’s $15 out go my pocket anyway, it might as well go towards my goal.
It worked so well that we’re doing January, with adjusted parameters.
It worked so well that I wanted to share this tip with you. If you’re finding it difficult to hold yourself accountable, find a friend who is in the same boat, and help each other. It doesn’t have to be fitness related. Having trouble saving up for a house downpayment? For every cup of Starbucks, or bar outing you and your partner go to, you each have to put $20 in the jar. Do that everyday and you have $7,300(each) by the end of the year! That’s $14,600!!!
Don’t let the daily grind stop you from achieving your goals.
Wishing you all a happy and successful 2022!
—Som
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