Cheers to us for making it midway through January! Whether you are pursuing new goals, cultivating a new passion, or just trying to maintain a healthy path for the new year, it is important to be your own champion.
For many, mid-month is when it gets tough to sustain momentum. The alarm clock goes off, but getting your feet on the floor for that morning workout is so much harder than last week. Or maybe you haven't started the new blog yet like you promised yourself you would, and already feel defeated. It could be that a major family event or illness has come up, and pushed you off track from investing time in reaching your goal.
Or hey, maybe you've been going strong since January 1 and want to create a plan to keep your progress sustainable.
Wherever you're at, the first step toward any personal success is to know yourself. This is the bedrock of every habit forming ingredient - motivation, consistency, planning, and persistence. To know what will be most effective for us personally, we need to be familiar with how we individually respond to internal and external expectations.
A great starting place for more insight about these expectations is the Four Tendencies, a personality profile created by Gretchen Rubin. This model suggests that people fit into one of four categories, depending on how they meet internal and external expectations. The Four Tendencies are:
Upholder - Meets outer and inner expectations.
Obliger - Meets outer expectations but resists inner expectations.
Questioner - Resists outer expectations but meets inner expectations.
Rebel - Resists outer expectations and inner expectations.
You might already have an idea of which type you are, or feel like a mixture of more than one type. Of course, we all have instances where we act outside our typical pattern because the importance of doing so is great. But the majority of our action/inaction will align with one of these types.
As a Questioner, I have a need for clarity and to understand the "why" of any goal or idea before I act. This can lead to hours of endless research comparing ideas or products to one another. Don't ask me how long it took me to find the "perfect" winter moisturizer. Okay, it took two hours (of checking Amazon, scouring ingredient lists, and reading articles about the function of hyaluronic acid). However, once I am convinced of something's validity or effectiveness, it's not hard for me to put my convictions into action.
Reading The Four Tendencies and learning about my type has helped me create a plan for my success in 2018. To satisfy my search for "why" and really accomplish things, I know that I need established deadlines, clarity of purpose, and advice from respected experts who have already done the research. Now, I can craft my goals so they incorporate these things, making me more likely to get where I want to go.
It can be frustrating when making changes doesn't come as easily as we want. I wish all the time that I could make decisions faster and not get stuck in "analysis paralysis." But when I choose to work with the strengths that I have, rather than the ones I wish I had, I can make real strides.
This year, let's not waste any more time trying to reach goals with self-defeating methods. When we look toward what we want to accomplish, let us see hope in the methods that work for us individually. There is no shame in doing what works for you. Rather, we can be proud of ourselves for embracing the unique way we operate, and growing from that place.
Henry Beecher Stowe, a prominent abolitionist and preacher during the Civil War, said that, "Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength." May we all leverage our personal strengths and self-understanding to become champions this year!
If anything from this post stands out to you, please feel free to comment! As always, if you're looking to begin counseling or pursue some of these ideas, you can reach me at:
address: 4205 Hillsboro Pike (Suite 305), Nashville, TN 37215
phone: (615) 208-4136
Guest post written by Grace Van Winkle
