Happy New Year! This time of year all you hear about are resolutions, goals, intentions, visions, and more. I’m ALL for goals, and plan on talking more about my love of goal-setting soon. But today I wanted to share about something I’m doing heading into the new year that I’ve never really done before. Have you guys seen people sharing their “word of the year”, a single word that essentially sets their intention or tone for the year ahead? I’ve had a word really weighing on my heart a lot lately, and so I’m jumping on the “word of the year” bandwagon and wanted to chat a bit today about my word of the year for 2017: Consistency.
Consistency is something that I’ve truly come to believe is so crucial to every aspect of our lives. Dictionary.com says definitions for consistency include:
“steadfast adherence to the same principles, courses, form, etc.: There is consistency in his pattern of behavior.“
and
“agreement, harmony, or compatibility, especially correspondence or uniformity among the parts of a complex thing: consistency of colors throughout the house”
I find both of these definitions especially poignant. Right off the bat, the first definition is something I share with my clients, and try to live by myself, all the time. I’m a big cheerleader in camp “consistent small actions yield big results.” This is why I think it can be more effective to exercise 20-30 minutes daily instead of repeatedly starting and stopping massive workout undertakings and programs once every few weeks. This is why I’m not a fan of dieting or starting major restrictions and diet rules “tomorrow”, because the majority of the time those rules can’t last. I think it is far more effective to consistently eat healthfully and intuitively the majority of the time, which does include treats. Consistent small actions is why I LOVE setting SMART goals, and “ladder goals” with my clients, where instead of saying “I want to lose twenty-five pounds as fast as I can”, we focus on other things, like “I’m going to drink only water between meals,” or “I’m going to eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal and snack.”
As far as the second definition, this was interesting for me to think about. I’ve been sharing with a few friends lately that the notion of balance can sometimes be this perpetual myth that creates more stress, frustration, and anxiety in its constant chase. So many of us want to perfectly balance our days with a lovely structure of all the things that are important to us and we want to do. Yet, as a new mom, I’ve been realizing that there is an ebb and flow to balance. Some days I have a very sleepy baby who loves nap time and I have more time available to dedicate to building this business. Some days I have a baby who just needs to be held, fed, and snuggled all.day.long. Other days (far and few between, ha!) I have to ignore everything else and finally clean the house before I go crazy! So as part of my intention of “consistency” for 2017, I really want to focus on this greater overall consistency of the things that are important to me in my life, instead of a constant daily battle for “balance”. I want the general picture of my life to consistently show the things that are most important to me: faith, family, and wellness.
My intention for 2017 is to give myself grace and to focus on just consistently doing those small things. One task a day for business building, consistently being the best mommy I can be to my baby girl, consistently choosing more plant-based foods and produce, consistently being outside and active with my family, etc. As someone who is ambitious (almost to a fault) and is prone to high standards, lofty goals, and huge to do lists, I don’t know that this will necessarily be an easy task every day, but I think pausing to focus on consistent small actions is going to be the best thing I can do for myself and my family in 2017.
What are you working on this year? Have you set a word of the year or any other kind of intentions or goals? I’d love to hear about them! And if you’d like to talk more about 1:1 nutrition and wellness coaching with me, please send me an email at lindsey@nutritiontofit.com. I’d love to work with you to help you develop your own plan for consistency to help you also create the best life for you this year and every other!
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