In this newsletter I aim to give you tips and valuable information to help you get More Time and More Life with Less Stress.

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Welcome to the Life Gym 2006. Plus a special welcome to all the new subscribers, I do hope you will enjoy the newsletter and recommend it to your friends.

 After all the build up to Christmas, here we are again at the start of a New Year and for many that means New Year Resolutions. How many of you are groaning at the thought of that? Is it because you find it so hard to stick to them?  Well read on….

1. Big Dreams, small steps

Ok, let's assume that, since the last issue, you have been getting into the daydreaming and visualising your ideal life, or what you plan for yourself in the future.

It is great to have big plans and dreams, but sometimes this means that they remain just dreams, because we find it too daunting to take action as we don’t know where to begin, so we get disheartened and end up taking no action at all.

We have spoken about this in the past, but it is really relevant to revisit it again at this time of year.

2. So tell me what you want, what you really, really want!

This is always a fascinating time of year down at my gym: loads of new faces, people being shown around as they are offered the chance to join for just £1 and, no doubt, see themselves running miles like Kelly Holmes. So, they have their induction session and then sign up for all the classes and head off to the gym each night after work.

You know what is coming next of course…… by the time we hit the middle of February I look around some of my classes and it is the same people that have always been there and we end up having a bit of a joke about it.  Our boxing class must be daunting, as about 6 of us have all been attending it regularly for a couple of years at least. So, when new members see us they expect to be boxing like us in two weeks, failing to realise it has taken us two years to get where we are today.

Another error people make is to try and set more than one resolution. This puts even more pressure on them and they get more stressed when they start “failing” because they do not have the time to do all the things they want to do.

Hence that age old statistic that keeps coming back to haunt us: most resolutions will get broken within a couple of weeks.  This means a new strategy is required!

3. Small is beautifufl

OK  I am bound to say that being just five feet tall!

When it comes to resolutions however this is a very useful approach to take. A New Year Resolution is really just another goal and what do you do with goals? Yes, you set a goal and then chunk it down into smaller and more easily achievable goals. That way you have a greater chance of succeeding and you will keep on keeping on, until you get there.

THE POWER QUESTION

How many New Year Resolutions have you made?

Common ones are of course the following:

Give up smoking

Lose Weight

Get fit

Drink Less

Eat less

Any one of the above is a big challenge, so if you are aiming to do more than one at a time you are practically sabotaging your chances of success.

It is not too late to just pick one thing you want to do differently, which will have a great effect on your lifestyle ,and start setting yourself short, medium and long term goals. None of the above resolutions have any timescale or measurement attached, so no wonder they are so hard to achieve. Remember goals need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed).

Be nice to yourself and make the New Year fun!

4. Up Close and Personal

Christmas passed me by somewhat as I had ‘flu and seemed to spend most of my time asleep – a rather extreme way of getting out of doing the cooking you may think! Luckily my brother Steve and sister-in-law Judi were there to take charge and I was able to relax.

Paddy is back having his sarcoid treatment. It is not as drastic as before,  but that doesn’t stop him being terrified when the vet arrives. This time he has a female vet so he is actually doing his best to be brave and impress her. After it was all over and I went to turn him out he galloped off down the field and then turned round and gave me a very annoyed look! Only four more sessions to go over the next couple of weeks, so I hope he doesn’t decide to go on strike and stop coming in again!

The Baggy T-shirt club was back in action at the gym on Saturday and we had a pretty good turnout and some had managed to maintain or even lose weight over the festive season.

We have even been asked to go and run one down at Alton College for the staff so that could be a lot of fun!

Until next time!

 Ann

ann@dreamcatcher-lifecoaching.co.uk

http://www.dreamcatcher-lifecoaching.co.uk/

The Life Gym is written by Ann Brosnan. Ann is a coach who specialises in helping people get More Time and More Life with Less Stress.

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