February: New Year Round 2!
The first month of 2019 is over, and February has just begun. If you started a new year's resolution, then you're probably thinking about how well you've succeeded (or not) so far, so I'm going to take this chance to talk about my own thoughts and challenges from January.
But before that let's start with a bit of encouragement for you all.
January is a really hard month. The days are short, the nights are cold (certainly here in the UK where it's dropped down to below freezing almost every night for the past week), and it often feels like it's dragging on. So trying to motivate yourself at this time of year to do something new, or stop doing something you shouldn't, can be really difficult to keep going strong.
For those of you who managed to make it through the first month of the year, then congratulations! You might have just managed the toughest month of your challenge, so keep that momentum going and carry on through February.
If you didn't manage to make it through the whole month, then don't be disheartened. This was probably the hardest month of the challenge, so the fact that you managed to make it even part way is an achievement in itself. Take a bit of time to think about why you didn't make it through January, and how you can overcome these in February to achieve your goals!
For me, I have made some steps towards the goals I set out in my last blog post, but still have a long way to go on others. So I've realised that one of the main things which I've struggled with is urgency. I've made some steps, but struggle with keeping up momentum to push through the challenges as early in the year as I can. So what will I do different in February? I'm going to set reminders every week to keep them in the front of my mind!
When most people set themselves a goal, they usually say something along the lines of "I'll start it next week", or "I'll start after X event". I know it's an easy thing to go, I am very guilty of doing this myself. So trying something new on a friday is not normally something which people are inclined to do, but I'd argue that the start of February is a great time to try something new, or re-start something you struggled to do last month, and here's why:
1) It's the shortest month.
It's easier to keep yourself motivated if you can clearly see the end of the challenge, so only have 28 days in the month makes it easier to keep that end goal in sight.
2) Spring is coming!
Although it's still going to be cold and dark for a while yet, in the northern hemisphere anyway, the start of spring is not far away. So if, for example, you've decided to train for a marathon or other outdoor activity, the weather is getting warmer and brighter.
3) Places are slightly quieter.
I don't know what it is, but January seems to be a pretty busy month no matter where you go, and if you're doing something like starting a gym program then it's very likely that your gym was full of people doing exactly that. But by the time February rolls around, people have settled into a routine and aren't rushing about as much, which makes it a good time to kick your routine up a gear while everyone else is settling down.
So no matter how well your January went, you can always pick it up in February. Whether you feel like you let yourself down, or the goal you set was too challenging, you can always jump back into the right place and smash out your goal before the second month 2019 passes you by!
Hopefully that's given you some food for thought, and let me know if you have any other reasons why February is a good place to start up again!
Until next time.
Tim