Not a fan of making New Year’s Resolutions? Particularly during deployment? Well try focusing on and tacking specific deployment pain points instead. This method is all about bite sized pieces. We usually fell like we have to start all of our goals for the year in January and it can be really overwhelming. I love that that this method is weekly or monthly and you can come up with it as your life needs it.
I love making goals and resolutions but traditional resolutions don’t always fit right into a deployment season. It can be really hard to think about goals and resolutions when you are in the middle of a deployment or basically any kind of survival mode season like motherhood. Sometimes we need to life hack our life to get to the base level of functioning in our lives before we can work on goals and resolutions. For example, it’s hard to work on a fitness goal if you are struggling to get meals on the table.
Does this sound like you? Check out these easy steps to see what I mean:
Identify Specific Pain Points
Brainstorm all of the areas in your life in which you are struggling or could use a little attention. Break it down into really specific actionable items. For example, instead of saying “get healthy” say “eat healthier” or “exercise more” or “get better sleep.” It can be easy to be hard on ourselves (including a lack of self compassion) during deployments. Because of this we often need a different mindset that is more achievable. While working on a specific pain point you will just be focused on what will work better and it is ok if the things you try don’t totally work out. When you use this method, there really isn’t anything that you can be hard on yourself about it for.
Choose a Regular Time Line
Our brain works well when we give it time lines. Whether you want to tackle these pain points a week at a time or a month at a time, decide the frequency and then assign each pain point that amount of time. You can pick out the whole year at the beginning of the year or just a few at a time. There’s a good chance that over the year your pain points will change. So you might pick some of your most immediate pressing ones to start like food planning and child care.
Time to Life Hack Your Pain Point
Now that you know what your pain points are and you’ve decided how long you are going to work on each one, take them on what a time. This is going to work very well for your deployment season because you don’t need to overwhelm yourself with all of your challenges and problems, you are focused on one thing. It’s time to research and find life hacks to take this issue and either solve it or make it 20-40% better. Look online for solutions, ask friends, try things out and see if it helps. By the end of the week or the end of the month you this pain point will be going better and you’ll be reaping the benefits.
The Silver Lining
The beautiful silver lining of this method is that you will immediately experience relief and confidence as soon as you get all of your issues to hold still on paper and simply by beginning to work on one of your problems. It’s amazing how when we’re overwhelmed by our problems we don’t work on any of them. However, when we start to make progress in one area, our whole life starts to feel better. As we resolve these pain points, we make our lives easier which enables us to use that mental energy towards things that matter.
I used to do a method like this when my kids were little and I called it Super Nannying myself or my life. Did you ever watch that show? She would go into these homes where everything was bad and nothing was working. The whole episode they would focus on all of the issues and you’d feel overwhelmed for the family. Then by the end she would just focus on and fix one or two things and everything else would get better too. So I would do this…make a list of everything that wasn’t working in my life and with my kids and then just pick one or two things to focus on and solve. Life hacking pain points is an excellent way to tackle your problems.
