14 Tricks for Getting Back in the Saddle and Achieving Your Goals

Oh, darling, let me be honest with you. The last year has been made up of me sitting at my desk on the computer. And a heck of lot less time on my feet moving my body . (Goodbye, Peloton streak!) What this has translated to is what you’d expect: less flexibility and a few extra pounds. It’s time to get back in the saddle of regular workouts.

While I am in the camp that believes how I look doesn’t reflect who I am as a person, I would be lying if I told you it didn’t bother me at all. And what bothers me more than the few extra pounds is how achy and stiff my joints are. Because as we get older, staying active helps keep our joints more limber. Though I’m not athletic, I’ve never been one of those people who like to sit still. I’ve always enjoyed being active.

Yet, despite this, I have fallen out of all my good routines of lifting weights several times a week, riding my Peloton, and doing my daily stretching.

After our last international trip – which included three flights and lots of long layovers in airports like Atlanta and Amsterdam – I had reached that point where I knew that I needed to make caring for my body a priority again.

Now is the time to get back in the saddle of making deliberate movement – such as walks, bike rides, and weight lifting – a priority once again.

No matter who you are or what you desire in your life, there will have been a time when you feel as if you’ve gotten off track to your goals and desires. And I get it. We move forward two paces and take one step back. Then we make these huge leaps forward and need to stand still and catch our breath. It’s part of the cycle of living.

Maybe, like me, you got off track in your goals around fitness because you got involved in a project for work. Perhaps you were working on a book, or wrote in your journal lately, but had to handle a family crisis. Or maybe, you just got frustrated because you weren’t getting the exact outcome you desired.

Despite summer being vacation time for many, I think it’s the perfect invitation to reinvigorate those goals and resolutions you set at the beginning of the year. So, why not join me and let’s make the choice to get back in the saddle. And make ourselves a priority.

Here’s fourteen tricks for getting back in the saddle and finish 2024 strongly.

Because it’s never too late to get back on the horse, even if you fell of years ago!

One – Say Hello to Awareness

Be honest with yourself and examine the past few months in your life. Where exactly did you get off path? What was the trigger? What was the fear around it? When did a delight become a should? This isn’t about beating yourself up for stopping your forward motion or abandoning an idea. It’s simply looking with curiosity, and stepping away from judgment. Awareness is a beautiful thing!

Two – Listen to Your Heart to Get Back in the Saddle

What do you want, darling? Don’t choose some unrealistic goal based on some arbitrary outside expectation. Figure out how you want to feel and create a goal focused on that feeling. Listen to the soft voice of your heart for the answers, because your heart knows what you really desire. Don’t hesitate to dive into mediation or prayer. And don’t underestimate the value of working things out on paper.

Three – Allow Yourself a Fresh Start

Every day is an opportunity to begin fresh. You can adjust your focus, change your words of the year, get back on path and rededicate yourself to your desires any day. Give yourself permission to be a beginner again.

Four – Create a Plan

Though rigidity isn’t a way to move forward with a lasting change, it’s hard to go in any direction without a plan. This doesn’t have to be a detailed plan, but at least create a general plan based on how you want to feel and the vision of where you want to go. (Clearing Soul Clutter walks you through creating a vision and a plan.)

Five – Focus on One Thing

I’m a huge fan of big change and know that it’s possible. I did it at the end of 2010. I also know that big changes don’t happen overnight. Choose one are of your life to focus on and allow the others to fall into place. Trying to “fix” everything at once will be like throwing spaghetti at the wall: some of it will stick, some of it will fall to the wayside, and no matter where it lands, you’re going to have a mess.

Honing your focus to one thing allows you to create a habit that sticks before you tackle something new. You can also expand your routines once you’ve mastered something new with a trick like habit stacking. For example, do a stretch or mobility exercises before a workout.

Six – Get Back in the Saddle by Saving the Date

Like choosing a date for a wedding, mark a date on your calendar that will signal the First Day of your new plan to begin. Like the first day of summer or your first workday after a holiday. Choosing a date comforts your mind and gives you a target for giving your intention legs. Mark it on your calendar.

Seven – Embrace Structure

Don’t underestimate how supportive nourishing routines can be. While they may seem restrictive, routines are actually about freedom. Routines help you manage your energy effectively so that you can channel it towards your real desires and purpose. Routines fuel your day and nourish your spirit. What structure do you need to put into place to support your goal or desire?

One of the ways I create structure is to assign a theme to the day – such as Wednesdays are a Treadmill and Upper Body lifting day.

Eight – Add Review

A weekly review allows you to really sharpen your intuitive focus so that the things that really matter to you don’t fall away in the busy-ness. It lets you to see where you’ve been and where you’re heading. A weekly review is one of the keys to staying on top of projects and assignments while helping keep you on track for your goals. This is the time to ask if what you’re doing is actually moving you towards your desired feeling.

Nine – Create a Minimum Weekly Requirement

As a part of my weekly review time, I create a minimum weekly requirement for the coming week. Maybe it’s 10 minutes of writing a day or a walk three days next week. Maybe it’s 100 push-ups during the coming week. Commit to a minimum for the coming week that feels both doable and a bit of a push.

Ten – Make No Excuses if You Want to Get Back in the Saddle

Be honest with yourself about what you’ve done and where you are. Not meet your minimum weekly requirement? Why? You don’t have to answer to anyone but yourself, but no matter what bumps in the road you had, don’t make excuses or justify why you didn’t. Choose to accept you did what you could, the best that you could, and move forward.

Eleven – Forgive Yourself

I’m all about the concept of Compassionate Discipline. As humans want to experience pleasure over pain (at least most of the time). Words like “goals” “discipline” and “action” seem worlds away from pleasure. Of course I want to feel good. I want ease and flow! I want unlimited cupcakes, lattes and days where my writing flows and my morning run is fabulous.

Compassionate discipline brings clarity and deliberateness to the game and trumps that a momentary tantrum.

It also means that when we don’t meet our goals, we don’t beat ourselves up. Instead, compassionate discipline allows us to forgive ourselves and move forward.

Twelve – Treat Yourself

Set up rewards for yourself for moving forward. Maybe it’s flowers from the grocery store or a coffee date with a friend. Maybe it’s a special date night or new mascara. My reward for sticking to better body care has been the commitment of a regular massage.

Thirteen – Be Accountable & Get Help

Get someone else on your team. Though you have to do the work yourself, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get support or get help. Hire a coach. Join a class. Find a trainer. Get a walking buddy. Tell your best friend. Enlist your partner. Give someone else permission to ask where you are on your goals. (JB is my accountability partner on my movement goals and we’re stretching together!)

Fourteen – Celebrate Your Decision to Get Back in the Saddle

Darling, there’s nothing better than a little celebration about your progress. Record it in your journal. Tweet it. Brag on your Facebook Page. Don’t make light of your accomplishments! It isn’t egotistical to celebrate.

Darling, life is indeed short, but it is never too late to create the kind of life you desire. And in order to create that life you want – and deserve – it means you have to take action. Try these tricks for getting back in the saddle around one of your goals. So, fess up: what area of your life do you want to change before the end of the year? What do you want to create? What do you want, baby?