​I give credit to my sister for integrating our one word practice each year. On the first of the year, we share our word for which will be our foundation for the upcoming 365 days with each other.  We have been practicing this for the last 8 years and it truly is life changing.
 
Living by one word each year has, for me, kept me grounded and rooted to my goals for that year.  When I feel like I am at a cross roads, I remember my word.  Most times that word is enough to help me make the choice between different possibilities that can lead me astray from what I hope for my life.
 
Picking a word for the year is a thoughtful action.  Look at your goals and try and group them in one word or phrase.  While this shouldn’t be overwhelming, it should take some thought and reflection.  The word needs to mean something to you.  Remember, this is your word, not anyone else’s word.  You will fight for this word.  It will be the word that gives you strength to stay focused.  Try to prevent picking a word that directly influences others.  This word is your word, and therefore forces you to take care of you. 
 
Once you pick a word -
 

• Share your word with special friends and family to make it come to life. 
• Write it, type it, frame it.  Make it beautiful!  You are going to look at it all year long.
• Use and speak your word in the most frequent ways possible; passwords, in memos, emails, etc.
• Put your word everywhere – on your bathroom mirror, on the fridge, on your dashboard in your car, at work, in your wallet. 

 
Having a word for a whole year can either take the front seat or get forgotten about at times.  Don’t ever give up on your word.  If you drift away from it, forgive yourself, dust off and move on.  Then refocus on that word. Remember, this word needs to work its way into your life for a year.  It’s not something that will come naturally or it wouldn’t be your word you picked, right?
 
May your word take you places you never thought possible.  Happy 2016!

Written By Merianne C. Colletti, ACSM CPT
Published in January 2016 Newsletter

1. ​Write Down Your Goals:  Seriously. Right now, get up. Get a pencil & paper and push it.  Write down what you want to accomplish.  Highlight it, color it, draw big circles and stars around it.  Then magnet that bad boy right up on the fridge; right at eye level.  Oh, and by the way, put a bungie cord around the fridge handle.  And while you are at it – lock up that pantry.  We aren’t messing around. 
2. Schedule It:  If you don’t put exercise, meal planning time and meal prep on your calendar, it becomes really easy to kick to the side.  How bad do you want it? Yeah, I want it that bad too.  Just schedule it.  Make laundry the negotiable appointment instead.  Who cares if you go without skivvies!
3. Tell Someone…But Not Just Anyone:  Telling the cashier at Wholefoods that you are trying to be more healthy does not constitute telling someone.  Instead, tell someone who can actually help you.  Scary thought isn’t it?  By the way, my cell phone is at the ready.  Text me!
4. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: No more just talking about it.  Sign up for something and then pay for it!  You will be more apt to use it.  (I know of some great classes, gym memberships with some super adorable instructors and highly effective nutrition programs you could use.) Click HERE.
5. Make Your Phone Work For You.  Most people have their faces buried in their phones.  So use it for good!  Enter alarms and put descriptions for those alarms in there.  You can even set them up as recurring…every day…every hour…more annoying than my text messages…
6. And Then… Put Your Phone Down!  Hit that alarm button to off, then PUT IT DOWN!  Do you know how many minutes of exercise you could get in if you didn’t fart around with your phone?  If you aren’t sure, you could go into settings and see how many minutes you are in each app.  But don’t, because that would be taking away from exercise time.
7. Give Up The Excuses.  Really, stop.  I would give anything for someone to say to me, “how can I…” rather then the all-too-played-out “I can’t…”  You were gifted this body and you best start to own that.  Every body has strengths and weaknesses. Embrace them. Train around them. Turn your weaknesses into strengths through hard work. No more using them as a setback. At the end of this life, your excuses will not comfort you.  But your victories will.  It’s time to fill your life’s resume with more wins.
8. RSVP a Big Fat “NO” to the Pity Party.  We all have them (even the people who look like they have it all together.).  So feel bad. Then dust off and stand back up.  This is not the party you want to make the bash of the century.
9. Take Measurements.  This process is not on your terms.  You are just going along for the ride.  You don’t get to have a say on what changes first.  Take measurements.  All kinds of measurements.  You will appreciate your hard work when you re-measure and see changes in areas you never expected.  It may be in your neck, arms, legs, tummy, blood pressure, blood work or that dreaded scale.  Any improvement is a job well done!  (Insert Plug for the 21 Day Challenge here.)
10. “Keep Showing Up.”  The best three words I was ever told.  Courtesy of Carter  Wattman, a super awesome man who died on his own terms at the ripe old age of 96. I guess he knew what he was talking about.  Thanks Gramps.

 
Written By: Merianne C. Colletti, ACSM CPT
Published in January 2016 Monthly Newsletter