Dr. Megan Neyer – Neyer Performance Strategies
What Really Matters? Constructing Your New Year’s EVOLUTION
“All the world’s a stage, all the men and women merely players” – Shakespeare
It’s that time of year when people make new year’s resolutions. They come in droves to the gym in early January. I call them “Resolutionists”. Resolutionists show up with the best of intentions to better themselves by losing weight and getting fitter. And then two weeks later, they’re gone again. While I enjoy having the gym space back, it makes me sad that it takes less than two weeks for people to let go of the new way they wanted to be. And the main reason for that is because they came up with a great concept, but didn’t follow it up with a solid plan that helped them follow through the days when their motivation was outweighed by their old habits.
With 2017 just barely in the rearview mirror, we often reflect on the past year to think about how it went for us. What were the successes, failures, setbacks and learnings? What do we want to take away from 2017 to make 2018 better? In order to do that, we have to decide – What REALLY Matters? What is our personal “North Star”? What gives our lives purpose that warrants focusing our physical, mental, and emotional energy towards it so that we have the sense that we are “performing on purpose”?
We’re all performers, whether you are an athlete, coach, leader, manager, parent, surgeon, or school teacher. If we want to perform optimally, we have to be great directors and conservators of our energy. Having been a world champion athlete and Olympian, I learned the importance of being aligned with a purpose – being the best in the world/best athlete I could be – and effectively directing my energy towards that purpose was critical to achieving my goals. What really matters to you, and in 2018, how do you want your life to BE? Write it down.
Now, let’s look at your mental energy, or where your energy is focused. Name 2-3 specific goals for the next year. What do you want to achieve? Then think about your emotional energy is your quality of energy: where is it on the continuum of positive to negative? What contributes to positive emotional energy, and what contributes to negative emotional energy? Lastly, and foundationally, physical energy is your quantity of energy. Think about how much energy you have during the day after you get a good night’s sleep, eat a good breakfast, and you’ve been consistently exercising…you usually have a good amount of energy as you head into your day. And think about how much energy you have if you wake up with a cold, had trouble sleeping, and have been eating on the fly? We generally run out of physical energy fairly quickly and the mental and emotional energy follows that downturn.
Performing on Purpose means setting your intention for using and recovering your energy so you can focus on what really matters every day. It means constructing a specific plan that supports your motivation and nudges you when your motivation wains. Stay tuned for the Perform on Purpose newsletter to help you construct your plan in January so that your RESOLUTIONS turn into the EVOLUTION that you desire.
For more information about how to support your evolution, contact Dr. Megan Neyer at 404-931-5253 or mneyer@drmeganneyer.com. www.drmeganneyer.com.
