While I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions, I believe that honest reflection on how we can be better leads to transformative growth and change. As you begin 2024, what success is yours to achieve? Where would being better be meaningful to you?
Perhaps you want to be a stronger partner for your spouse, a more present parent, or increase your results as a professional. Maybe fitness or finances are on your mind. As someone who has spent my career supporting the success of others, I’ve noticed that most people don’t lack goals or aspirations. Where they often get sidetracked is by the pace they keep. They’re too busy to live a life that’s meaningful to them. It can be challenging to reconcile, but to achieve the better we imagine, we need to choose where to slow down intentionally.
You reached your present level of success by making commitments, identifying priorities, and taking action. To level up, you need to pause, reflect, identify changes, and give yourself the space to do things differently. Doing more of what you’re already doing rarely leads to next-level outcomes. It typically just leads to more stress, reactionary actions, and a decline in quality. If you want to be better, the key is to find out where it’s best to show up differently.
I have some challenging fitness goals for 2024. While I’ll learn new things to achieve them, the most important gap I must address isn’t about technique; it’s consistency. I know how to run, swim, and bike. Yet, I also know how to procrastinate and put my work goals ahead of my fitness goals. The most significant change that will contribute to achieving my goals is reorganizing how I plan my days – allocating my time so workouts become just as important as my work. When I prioritize well, exercise makes me better at work and more at peace with myself. I slow down my pace in one lane (work) to create time for another meaningful goal (fitness). And in doing so, I accelerate both mental and physical wellness.
Where would doing less actually contribute to a more holistically better you? Is there a lane of your life that gets most of you? Seeing that overstrength for what it is allows you to trim down the busyness and increase purpose, meaning, and results. That’s the essence of going slow to go fast. Here’s to an intentional 2024!
