Fall is right around the corner and with this comes many changes in our routines, work schedules, and goals. You may find yourself wishing summer would never end, and as fun as summer can be, there’s nothing quite like the butterflies that come with the leaves changing and the beginning of the school year, no matter how old you are. 

It is easy to look at this time of year as a loss of freedom and fun. This may be partially true. However, there is always an opportunity for us to view any situation through the lens of what we are gaining versus what we are losing. 

As the weather and leaves begin to settle, our lives begin to settle as well. Normalcy in our routines brings a great opportunity for us to set new goals, achieve them, and strive for a new level of personal excellence and fulfillment. We must look at this change in seasons from the perspective of what we are gaining in order to do this.

This time of year can also be extremely stressful, especially if you have children returning to school. As much as you may or may not want to hear this, we have the ability to take control over our reality, how we spend our time, and how we react to life happening around us. Take time to become familiar with what your calendar will look like in the upcoming weeks and point out the gaps. What do you want your routines to look like? Get clear on your ultimate goals and reverse engineer from there. For help with this, check out my scheduling and planning training at www.calofitnessllc.com/scheduling.

Most of us have the tendency to jump into extremely strict goals and routines, and I’m sure you’ve realized from lots of practice that it doesn’t work very well. This is why reverse-engineering our goals is very important. For example, one of my clients is a teacher and she has a goal to workout before school. In order to do this, she needs to wake up at 6:00 am every morning. She was waking up around 8:00 am every day during the summer. Reverse-engineering her goal looked like her waking up a half hour earlier each week from the beginning of August until school starts. This helped her slowly and confidently maintain her goal. Had she tried to jump directly into waking up at 6:00 am once school began, she would have found herself giving up very quickly, as this is what has happened in the past. 

You might be thinking, “Yeah Maggi, this sounds great but will never work for me.” The only way it’s going to work for you is if you keep the promises you make to yourself. Would you let someone you love down? Don’t let yourself down either. There’s nobody out there who is going to hold you accountable to your goals more powerfully than you can for yourself. No matter how small the promise, keep it. Each time you do, you teach yourself that you’re reliable, capable, and care. I know you care about other people around you. It’s time you share the love with yourself.

Xoxo

Coach Maggi