Tag: Michael Jordan quote

Thriving After a Setback

Christina BruniLeave a comment

This Michael Jordan quote paperweight I bought in a museum gift shop a long time ago.

It gets at having the courage to risk change to get what you want in life. Everyone living on earth experiences pain heartache and loss.

Adversity is our friend. When we struggle and can see the light of day afterward we can be proud of ourselves for overcoming whatever the setback was.

What if the hardship won’t go away? That’s when we go with Plan B: handling what goes on to the best of our ability. More than this doing what comes easy to us that we enjoy can help us live through the challenge.

However long it takes to emerge on the other side we can get there wiser, stronger, and in a better position to create that new world and life for ourselves.

Our personality powers us through. The beauty and benefit of experiencing a setback is that we realize “enough is enough.” No longer can things go on the way they were before.

Creating a new routine does take courage and perseverance. It takes time to bounce back. We’re not Wild West cowboys falling off a horse getting back on and galloping into the sunset right then.

Wanting a quick outcome will set us up to feel like a failure when we can’t meet the restrictive deadline we set for ourselves to achieve something. Decades ago I coined the term of giving yourself a lifeline not an impossible deadline to carry out a goal or plan.

To rush cut corners or take shortcuts often results in a half-hearted outcome. Who can be proud of that? Far better to give ourselves gentle affirmations as we go about each day taking on the new habit or routine.

The new routine I created after the arm injury has been “so far so good.” Seeing a positive difference after 3 weeks has motivated me to keep on keeping on.

It’s often repeated that it takes 21 days for a new habit to form. You can use the book Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions. It’s a guide to a 90-day Action Plan for replacing a negative behavior with a positive one.

What if we don’t need to replace an unhealthy habit? What if we’ve been living our lives and we’ve simply come up against the reality that our old lifestyle is unlivable today?

That’s when asking Why you want to change something and What you can do to begin the new routine is the first step. Also to figure out: When you should do the new thing and How to do it and Where.

For the little old blogger that I am this was a fairly simple strategy: I changed what I ate each day and when I ate the food. I began to lift weights again 2x/per week as often as I could.

Coming up the details. I’ll end here with saying that rewarding yourself along the way for your little victories as well as milestones is called for.

It’s not often easy to change what’s not working. This is often because we feel like a failure if we don’t see improvement quickly.

Instead each of us should Enjoy the Process. Which is exactly why practicing mindfulness is called for.

Giving ourselves at least 3 weeks to create a new habit is the way to carry on. I’m giving myself those 90 days that is 3 months to see what happens.

Bruni’s Atomic Habits

Christina BruniLeave a comment

About seven months ago I read the book Atomic Habits. I recommend that readers buy a copy. The author lists simple small effective ways to create new positive habits in your life.

Come to think of it this might have been round about when I changed one thing:

In April 2019 I ditched having Purely Elizabeth’s ancient grains mush for breakfast.

Pour granola in bowl; add milk; eat in three minutes. Repeat. Every morning.

That had been my strategy for breakfast for too long.

In April I paid $395 for the services of a Health Coach. She zoomed in on this breakfast choice as one possible root for my lack of energy.

It’s January 2020. And 9 months later I’m happy to report that things turned around.

That April I changed one tiny thing: buying organic ingredients for my morning meal.

Scrambling two Handsome Brook Farms organic eggs with organic diced yellow red and orange peppers, tiny organic broccoli florets, and sliced organic mushrooms.

One month after this eggs-cellent food makeover I changed something else out of the blue.

One morning in May I decided to exercise at 7:00 a.m. Since then I exercise at home in the morning and early afternoon 2x/per week.

On Labor Day I bought the self-cleaning oven. Since this splurge I’ve been cooking my own dinners on most nights.

In November I started using the treadmill 1x/per week–another goal.

This is proof that slow-and-steady wins the race. Because our lives aren’t a race to the finish line–you know where that leads.

I’m not a fan of trying to execute numerous goals all at once.

This is contrary to the fact that a magazine recently touted that new research claims making four or five changes all at once is possible and effective.

I’ll stick to the Atomic Habits guidelines and to the Changeology action plan.

You simply don’t know what’s possible until you try.

My metal Michael Jordan quote paperweight is inscribed thus:

Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.

Changing one or two things at a time has worked for me.

The funny thing is, after executing these new habits, I can say that I have more energy and confidence, and my body is fitter and stronger too. Plus I lost 12 pounds without trying to : )

Not too shabby for a person who will turn 55 in the spring.

I’ll end here by telling readers not to write the ending of your story before you’ve started the first page.

Expecting the worst–that you “can’t” do something or “won’t” be able to do something is a mistake.

I had no idea the direction my life would turn when out of nowhere out of the blue on a Friday morning in May I decided I had to exercise at 7:00 a.m.

This is the reason that planning things down to every minute detail can backfire. This is why telling yourself you need to see results quickly will derail your success.

In coming blog entries I’ll give recipes for healthful snacks. I’ll talk a little about my own “food plan” which has also become a habit recently.