The 2020 Game Plan For The New Year!

2019, Is Behind Us… We Now Enter A New Year and A New Decade.

2019… it may have been good, bad, or somewhere in between for you but regardless, it’s over and it’s time to focus on 2020 (optometrist humor!)

During January, most of us are thinking about what we would like to accomplish this year.

Typically looking at a few very important areas… health, fitness, finances, and relationships.

The New Year is a clear starting point that separates us from what happened last year while looking forward to what we can do to improve our lives over the next year.

We can not just coast along hoping for the best. Most often this leads to frustration and a constant worsening of the things that already frustrate us.

We’re all getting older. Things break down if we don’t have the proper maintenance and repair. This is as true for our cars as it is for our bodies, our health, our finances, or our relationships.

It’s important to be very pro-active so that you can direct your habits to allow you to improve in the areas that you want to improve.

I strongly recommend putting health at the top of your list.

It will not matter how much money you make if you lose your health. I mentioned this in regards to Steve Jobs in another post about the importance of health.

Jobs was exceptionally successful in life in so many areas but certainly not in one, health. He suffered with very serious health problems before dying at the young age of 56 of pancreatic cancer.

Health comes down to several key factors that mean adopting the right habits and doing them every day.

It’s not really about genetics. Let me be completely honest here.

You were born with certain genes. Some people may have very unfortunate genetic anomalies like Down Syndrome. This is not true of most people.

Even in these very serious genetic differences, the person’s potential, how well they can function and perform is still either improved or reduced by what they do on a daily basis. So many with seemingly massive disabilities accomplish so much in life that can far exceed average.

Most people have some genes that may pre-dispose them to greater risk of certain problems.

It doesn’t really matter.

You can’t do anything about the genes you were born with other than making sure the “bad” ones stay turned off or suppressed.

What you do in your daily life (your daily habits) determines how you express your genes, whether they get turned on, whether they become a greater or a lesser problem.

These daily habits that are so critical to your health are… what you eat, exercise, sleep, reducing stress, and getting outside among a few others.

Healthy habits make you more healthy while unhealthy ones make you less healthy.

Sounds simple.

It’s not because it’s difficult to know what is really healthy and what is not… and even if you know, it’s difficult to change habits.

You’re worth it though.

Don’t wait for things to get worse before you are forced to do something.

Waiting too long often really reduces your options and may lead to having to choose from different much worse options that may further damage your health or be much more costly in the same way that ignoring the fact that your car is low on oil for too long will result in a serious problem and a major repair bill.

No matter where you start the year, you have an opportunity to change, making some adjustments to where you’re headed to make sure it’s closer to where you want to be this time next year.

This yearly self assessment and self correction keeps you moving forward, getting better, and achieving your goals year after year.