The Day After the New Year

Today is the second day of January and the second day into the new year.  How are you doing with all those goals and resolutions you made last month?  The problem with goals and resolutions are they really don’t work.  I’m not saying this to upset you or disempower you, but as the truth.  I often ask myself and my clients, “What do you really want?”  That seems like a basic question or an easy one to answer.  The most basic and easy the question the harder it is to answer.  And harder yet to follow through on the answer and achieve.  So, getting back to the basic question, “What do you really want?”  I want world peace, health, stable income, a state of happiness, and positive relationships. Isn’t this what we all want?  But how do we achieve these basic needs?

What I listed were all basic needs on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs chart: “Physiological needs (food, water, shelter), safety needs (security and safety), To belong (relationships), Self-esteem (a sense of accomplishment), and Self-actualization (achieving our full potential).”  When you look at this chart are all your needs being met right now?  If this is all we need to have peace and happiness why don’t we ever achieve this sense of just being?  The issue is we aren’t satisfied with the people in our lives, we aren’t happy at our jobs, we aren’t happy with where we live (we want bigger and better), we aren’t happy with ourselves in what we can and do achieve every day.  We are always striving for more and better.

What if you lived everyday satisfied you lived that day the best you could?  Don’t settle for setting useless goals.  It’s better to make a decision that you want to live a more productive life.  How do you start?  Just make the decision on what you want changed and follow through.  The best way to make a decision and follow through is to get up every day and walk and run.  Running and walking help get the juices flowing and helps you make better decisions.  So if you want to live by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs just make the decision to cover all you bases.  Get out and get some fresh air and walk and run of the crazy!