Happy New Year

NEWS:

By Clive Lindley-Jones | January 1, 2010 1:47 pm

With a New Year and decade many of us come over all resolute and with a firmness of mind or purpose make a decision to do something different this year than last.

After the feasting of Christmas we set out, in the cold light of the New Year, to steer our life on a new course; in short to shape our destiny anew. And then towards the end of January we resolve in a cloud of forgetfulness and mild despondency not to bother with it after all and often crawl back into our holes again feeling gloomy and wondering if it is ever possible to change anything. However dismal or familiar this is it does not always have to be this way.

I thought, to start the decade, I would outline a few guiding principles I have learnt from bitter experience that do work to increase your chances of taking control of your life.

So, for would-be neophyte goal setters, or still enthusiastic New Year resolutionists try running your resolution through the old Neuro Linguistic Programming Outcomes frame as follows:-

1. Stated in the Positive

“What do you want?”
“What will that do for you?”

2. Demonstrable in Sensory Experience – Evidence Procedure

“How will you know when you’ve got it?”
V “What will you be seeing when you’ve got it?”
A “What will you be hearing when you’ve got it?”
K “What will you be feeling when you’ve got it?”
V “What will I see you doing when you’ve got it?”
A “What will I hear you saying when you’ve got it?”

3. Started and Maintained by You

“Can you start and maintain this outcome?”

4. Appropriately Contextualised

“When, where and with whom do you want it?”
“When, where and with whom do you not want it?”
“How long for?”

5. Maintain the Current Positive By-products

“What do I get out of my present behaviour which I would wish to preserve?”

6. Ecology Check

“Is it worth the cost to you?”
“Is it worth the time it’s going to take?”
“Is this outcome in keeping with your sense of self?”

Once you have run through these you will be well on the way to setting a healthy do-able outcome for yourself. Next time I will help you with the power of Focus to set your goals more effectively.

One thing I have noticed both in myself and my patients over the years is a tendency, sometimes, to get carried away with a big juicy vision without clearly planning the steps that will make achieving my goal possible.

For example, I often see people who want to loose weight setting themselves up to fail purely because they have not really worked out/found out what really works, instead they make half baked and misguided attempts like cutting out breakfast and soon ‘prove’ to themselves that ‘its impossible,’ purely by failing to model best practice.

So over the next few months in my Helix House Heath E-coaching I will outline for you do-able ways you can set goals you will achieve, get healthy and stay healthy loosing that tummy in the process, by understanding the science and art of healthy eating and activity and much, much more. Interested? Watch this space.

Happy New Year,

Clive Lindley-Jones