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Health & Fitness

A Well Oiled Machine??

Making changes to our routines and how to make them stick.

So school has been in session for just over a month now.  How are your routine’s holding up?

In September and January we all seem to try to change our systems for the better, to make our lives easier.  However, something always gets in the way.  A sports practice, a board meeting, a club meeting or back to school night.  Then the lunches get pushed off until the morning and you are racing around the house like chicken without a head because when the alarm went off you NEEDED to push snooze for another nine minutes of sleep! I get it, because I have been there too.  So now what, how do you build a system that does not fall apart?

The short answer: Start Small! Many times we try to change everything at once, but that is a shock to our system that just won’t stick.  Pick one routine to change and stick to just that change for a month.  When you make one change and are successful, you can then move on and make changes elsewhere in your day to day routines.  The confidence gained from one change will bolster you, helping you to make further changes.

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Another way to make routines change is to enlist help.  The help could be a friend making the same change or your kids or your spouse.  Just by having someone else who knows what you are trying to do, you are more likely to be able to follow through on your new routines.

These same techniques can be used with our kids. Whether we are talking about time management or test taking or grades we all live our lives with little systems that we have put in place for ourselves.  Being able to look at our systems and adjust and tweak them or throw them out and start all over again is just another way to be adaptable and more efficient.

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So is it time to look at your systems and pick one?

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