The holidays are here!  Yup, I know! Already?!  There will be parties, family visiting, people bringing treats to work, school parties, etc.!   

Before all of this happens, I like to ask myself how I want to go through this holiday season.

Do I want to be intentional, or do I want to “wing it”?

Winging it would look like….. not making a drink plan, food plan, workout plan, staying up all wee hours of the night, and sleeping in all the next day.

I asked myself how I would feel at the end of the season if I made that decision.   And the answer was glutinous, tired, puffy.

That is not how I want to feel at all!!

So, I ask myself, “How do I WANT to feel at the end of the season?”   And the answer was that I want to feel physically and mentally great.

That’s great. So, how will I make that happen?

At the beginning of each week, I will write out exactly what I want to do. (No need to stress your brain and try to plan out the whole season at once!)

This is where the magic of the self-coaching model comes in! I’ve written about it before, and it is the baseline of my coaching practice.

I will think intentionally and get it out of my brain and onto paper. (This helps so much!! We have over 60,000 thoughts a day, and you can bet your ass that if we don't write down our intentional thoughts, our brain will try to convince us that we are really thinking something else. This way, we can look at what we wrote and remind ourselves exactly what we wanted to think and do!)

My intentional model is:
Circumstance- This week of the holiday season. 
Thought- I want to feel physically and mentally great at the end of this week.
Feeling- determined
Actions- I will make a drink plan for the week, plan my food out every day, cook dinner at least 5 nights, put my workouts on my calendar and treat them like my job, drink my gallon of water every day, get at least 30 minutes of movement in every day, go to sleep when I am tired, do not snooze the alarm when it goes off in the morning, no unplanned drinks or snacks, take at least 10 minutes in the morning to journal, I will evaluate of the day before every morning (more about this later).
Result- I end the week feeling physically and mentally great!

Ok, ok…I can hear you now. What if you don’t want to work out that day? What if someone brings home your favorite wine/ice cream/cookie? What if you’re too tired to wake up when the alarm goes off?

Yes, there will be obstacles! There are ALWAYS obstacles (aka…excuses! LOL!)! I want to say two things about that:

#1- There are obstacles because our brain is telling us that there are obstacles! We can choose not to think of them as obstacles. What???!!!! Let me explain…
I think, “I really don’t desire to work out today.” I could believe that and use the lack of desire as my obstacle, OR I could believe that I can still do it without having the desire to do it!

How often do you feel desire when you brush your teeth or tie your shoes? Probably not much! Yet, you do those things anyway, Which proves that we can do things without the feeling of desire being involved.

The same goes for unexpected treats or being tired when your alarm goes off. You get to decide whether to look at those things as obstacles or not. You get to decide if you’re going to stick to your plan or not, if you’re going to get out of bed or not.

#2- We are human. Humans are imperfect. Sometimes, humans use their obstacles not to do things (or do unplanned things). That is ok!!! My coach likes to say to shoot for B- work! However, this is where the evaluation comes in. As soon as possible, grab your journal/paper/napkin and a pen and write it out. What worked, what didn’t work, and what will you do differently next time these obstacles pop up?

Let’s say I didn’t go to the gym one day this week, and I had an unplanned drink because my husband brought my favorite bottle of wine. This is what I would write out:
 

• This is what worked for me- I had a written drink plan, I had a written food plan, I cooked dinner, I had my workout on my calendar, I drank my gallon of water, went to sleep when I was tired, did not snooze the alarm, journaled this morning…..and anything else that I think I did well.

• These things did not work for me- I told myself that I didn’t have the desire to go to the gym, and I listened to that; I sat at my desk and worked through my gym time; I told myself that I had to drink the wine because he brought it, especially for me, I told myself that I would hurt his feelings if I didn’t drink it

• What I will do differently next time- I will look at my intentional thought from the beginning of the week; I will tell myself that I don’t have to have the desire to go to the gym..that I can go any way. I will set the alarm on my phone to alert me to when I plan to go to the gym; I will remind myself of my drink plan; I will tell my husband my drink plan; I will remind myself that I can put it on my plan for tomorrow if I’d like.

And then you move on! No beating yourself up, not shitting all over yourself!  You live, you learn, and you keep going!

So, how do you want to feel at the end of the holiday season?  How do you want to show up for yourself during this season? 

I am the Get Real coach for women; what you see is what you get.  

How can I help you to be intentional?  Click on the link above and schedule your free 30-minute consultation with me, and let’s talk about it! 

I live unapologetically me, and can help you live unapologetically YOU!

Xo,
Steph

As always, please feel free to leave any questions or comments.

I’d love to hear from you.

(The self coaching model was developed by Brooke Castillo of The Life Coach School.)