How a Daily Practice Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

It happens every couple of weeks. Towards the end of yoga class, we practice inversions and inevitably, a student will flag me down and ask for assistance.

“I want to do a handstand,” they say.

Most of the time, it’s a student who has been working on this pose for a while and wants some guidance. But, you can tell when it’s a student who really wants to get up into handstand just to do it, when it’s a goal that they’ve set for themselves – a bucket list item.

They expect me to give them a quick tip that will miraculously help them float up and stand on their hands, or help them turn upside down. They want to know how to achieve their goal now.

Instead, I ask them to show me how they come into the pose. And I watch. And I offer some suggestions on how to work towards standing on their hands, often focused on building strength in particular areas, working on alignment. And practice.

We say “practice” a lot in yoga instead of “doing yoga” because yoga is really a practice. You show up on your mat consistently, work with an open heart, and put in the time and energy.

And that practice moves you forward – mentally as well as your physical flexibility – and maybe it eventually leads you to be able to do a handstand. After all, practice makes better, right?

How a Daily Practice Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

This idea of practice is one that can be taken off the mat and applied to other areas of your life. It’s central to how to you can achieve your goals and big dreams.

Here’s the thing about big dreams and goals – it can often feel like it’s too much, too big to take on and no way no how am I every going to achieve that goal of mine. Or you can become obsessed with the end goal that it blocks any potential path forward. So it’s easy to let those dreams remain dreams.

So you want to know how to achieve your goal? Create a daily (or weekly) practice where you consistently show up, take small actions and make positive choices. Your actions will start to build on each other and you will start to see changes.

{This is apparently also the theory and strategy behind Jerry Seinfeld’s success}

5 Steps to Create a Daily Practice

How do you figure out what should be your practice? Here are five steps:

1. Identify your goal(s). What does success look like to you in the next 6-months or year? What do you want to achieve?

2. Create a mind-map. Using a mind map, identify what you have to do in order to bring you closer to your goal. What are the building blocks that will get you to your goal?

3. Identify your daily or weekly practice. Review your mind map and choose a set of practices that you can commit to doing daily (or weekly). Depending on the number of goals you have, you may want to start with choosing one practice to implement for each goal.

4. Practice. Implement those practices. Do them consistently.

5. Be patient. It takes time for the positive effects of the regular practice to add up. But it will add up.

Here’s an example for my goal of running a sub-2 hour half marathon.

This year, I want to take better care of myself and that starts with getting back to the basics. If I start on a path towards a healthy mind and body, everything else will follow.

Here’s what my daily/weekly practice will include:

MOVE MORE

• Walk 10,000 steps a day
• Foam roll daily {Read why everyone should foam roll or do self-myofasical release daily}
• PT exercises 3-4 times per week {Here are 5 exercises for hip and glute strength}
• Strength train and core work 2 times per week {Here are 6 upper body exercises for runners}
• Practice yoga 2-3 times per week {Here are 5 reasons why runners should do yoga and my yoga for runners series. Need tips on how to incorporate yoga into your daily life? Here you go.

EAT REAL FOOD

• Drink at least 64 oz of water a day (because it’s a good day if I drink 24 oz)
• Choose whole grains over refined grains
• Eat vegetables and/or fruit at every meal {Here’s what your daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables actually looks like.}

SLEEP WELL

• Go to bed by 11pm
• No screen time an hour before bed

How a daily practice can help you achieve your goals set you on a #PathToFit
Click To Tweet

To help YOU create a daily practice and set you on the #PathToFit, I have two amazing giveaways. I am giving away one (1) Garmin vívofit activity tracker and a $100 Gift Card to Whole Foods Market. Each item is being given away through separate random drawings so please enter through rafflecoper below.

Rules:

• Giveaways end at 12:00am EST on Thursday, January 15th; winner will be announced on/about Friday, January 16th.
• One winner will receive a Garmin vívofit.
• One winner will receive a $100 gift card to Whole Foods Market.
• Winner has 48 hours to claim their prize (I will contact you as best I can via email or social media) before a follow-up winner is selected.
• All entries will be verified.
• Winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter and are based on the number of entries received.
• Open to US and Canada residents only.

Want to read more about my #PathToFit journey?

• Rest, Reset, and Renew on the #PathToFit
• 2 Steps To Make Healthy Eating a Reality

This post is the second in a series of six posts that I’m doing in partnership with Whole Foods and Garmin to share my #PathToFit this year. As compensation, I received Whole Foods gift cards and a Garmin vívofit, both of which I’m using to create the content for this series. All views and opinions expressed are 100% my own.

*************************

More Ways to Follow Love, Life, Surf

Twitter -> @cyu888
Instagram -> cyu888
Facebook -> Love, Life, Surf
Pinterest -> LoveLifeSurf
Email or in Reader -> Subscribe here
Bloglovin’ -> Love, Life, Surf

The post How a Daily Practice Can Help You Achieve Your Goals appeared first on Love Life Surf.