Each new year brings exciting possibilities of what you can achieve. New Year’s resolutions are commonplace, where you might pause and develop one activity you wish to start to improve life. Resolutions are often related to being in better condition, taking more time for loved ones, and prioritizing a particular goal that will lead you to a more joyful existence. You might be seeking to improve fitness by taking up running, yoga, strength training, or another wonderful physical activity.
Just as resolutions are exciting, they typically don’t last long. It is challenging for even the most motivated people to make healthy life changes. Consider each resolution that is on your wish list, and beneath the prospect you will find a personal gift—a talent and possibility that can add further meaning in your life.
In my youth and early adulthood, I was a somewhat gifted equestrian. As a junior, I envisioned winning provincial championships, and then being selected for junior world cup competitions, followed by a birth on a senior national team. There came a time when I needed to re-envision the next steps in my life, so I pursued graduate studies in sport psychology before becoming a professor and a sport psychology consultant with Olympic and professional sport organizations. During an accelerated career path, my fitness waned. I became overweight, inactive, and unable to run more than a 400-metre track. During one national team training camp, I was unable to run with colleagues on a six-kilometre trail while our athlete clients rested. Walking back from an abandoned run, I resolved to take up distance running, lose weight, and return to competition as an endurance runner.
The point is that you and I need to pursue various gifts to have a satisfying life. There are eight steps that can help you capitalize on your next gift, should you also wish to improve health status.
Step one is to identify the gifts you know you have in trust. These might include physical gifts such as speed, endurance, or agility, or some further possibilities that are uniquely yours to discover. Some of these are ones you’ve pressed into action, and some might be withering on the vine.
There are eight steps that can help you capitalize on your next gift, should you also wish to improve health status.
Step two is about discovering competing forces in your life that attract you toward a chosen gift you are attempting to pursue while others are pulling you away from it. Examples of competing forces might be, to the positive, access to a wonderful mentor, high levels of energy, and a keen interest in the gift pursuit. Counterforce might be work commitments, family life, and over-scheduling.
Step three is about the contortions we all experience when we choose a path that becomes a barrier to a gift pursuit. For many people, gift pursuits are placed on hold, for a short or a long time. The consequence of a stalled pursuit is sadness and apathy, leading to this sixth sense that something is missing from your life.
Step four would be to identify the glimpses you experience from time to time, or maybe more often. A glimpse happens when you stumble on an activity and pursuit you have been deferring that can bring you happiness. When these glimpses happen, you might have previously ushered them away several times, such as seeing this more complete version of you in your mind’s eye. Because glimpses recur, you will have many opportunities to listen to them. Finally, the glimpse of your gift will stick, and you will decide it is time for action.
Step five is to act on your glimpse and integrate it into your daily life. Endurance is never easy, but with endurance, you will onboard a positive life change.
Step six is transcendence, where you can perform your chosen gift at the quality you first saw in your mind. The reward is added life quality, improving your fitness, energy level, mood, clarity of thought, and your possibility to strengthen relationships with others.
Step seven is about pursuing symmetry, where you can begin to develop several gifts, some for now, and some for your future. Each gift has its own time in your life. So, you need to enjoy the recently onboarded gift while also curating other parts of your life, as a blend of daily activities.
Step eight completes your gifting process with a commitment to encourage others in their gift pursuits, as opposed to not recognizing their exciting possibilities or discouraging these pursuits altogether.
The thing is that life is a precious commodity we often enjoy, but sometimes falter in. This suggested eight-step process can become your stimulant and reinforcement to an even better life, physically, psychologically, and spiritually.
With excerpts from: Gifted: 8 Steps to Succeeding in Sport, Work, and Life – a motivational book authored to support you in the discovery and endurance of your gifts.
You may also like: 5 Ways to Make Resolutions You Can Keep
Read This Story in Our 2025 Inspiration Issue
IMPACT Magazine Inspiration Issue 2025
Meet 36 outstanding recipients of Canada’s Top Fitness Instructors, Class of 2025 in this highly anticipated issue!
Plus: Dr. Adam Tenforde dives into the health risks to consider before your first marathon; Dr. Sanjeev Goel, Canada’s “Longevity Doctor,” has the essential tips to optimize sleep habits in the winter months; learn the five-step secret to meal prepping success with nutrition coach, Erin Romeo; implement practical fitness hacks from professional athlete, Lisa Bentley; work out with two of our Canada’s Top Fitness Trainers and Instructors, Devin Wolfe and MJ Shaw; Dr. Syl Corbett explores the role of adaptogens in managing stress through diet; 59-year-old Athlete with IMPACT, DonnaJean Wilde inspires by breaking records in planking and push-ups; and more delicious and nutritious plant-based recipes!
This just scratches the surface of what you’ll find in this issue, so dive into the DIGITAL EDITION and be empowered for a fantastic 2025!
