Should you make a New Years Resolution?
I have a confession this New Years….
I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions!
I know, I know you thought I would be all for them right?
It’s not that I don’t think that we should set goals for the year. It’s just that I think New Year’s Resolutions by their very intention are set up to fail.
I am giving up smoking.
I am going to loose weight.
I am cutting out sugar.
You see all of these statements are very negative.
If you start the year with one of these in your head what do you think is going to happen?
Are any of these resolutions likely to happen?
Probably not.
And then when they don’t how will you feel? De-motivated, unhappy?
Or maybe they do work for the first few weeks and then you give up because the expectation is too high or there is too much temptation.
Then you just feel bad.
There is another way. And it is actually a lot more fun.
And a lot more likely to succeed.
Here are my 3 steps to making plans for 2016 and sticking to them:
Step 1
Ask yourself why…
You need to understand what is driving you to want to change. If you want to make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight then try asking why this is important?
Is it because you want to feel better about yourself, happier, more energetic?
Is it because you want to be a role model for your children and encourage healthy habits?
Sometimes you have to ask why a few times to get to the bottom of this.
Once you are clear about why it is important, then you have your real goal for the year.
It could be
Be a good role model for my children
or maybe to be more active
or perhaps you want to feel great
Think about how you would like to feel every day for 2016 and focus on that.
Step 2
Once you understand WHY you need to work out what ONE THING you can do to achieve it.
It could be one thing that you focus on each week for example like this week I will drink an extra glass of water every day.
Next week you might choose to walk for at least 5 minutes every day.
You may even decide that you need to do the same thing every day for a while like committing to a daily amount of steps or doing a 10 minute workout every day for 10 days.
Whatever you choose to do focus on the action fully.
Then review it regularly, weekly is good as you can see your progress and you will feel that you are moving forward.
Weekly also allows you to review if it didn’t go so well last week then you can change how you set your intentions for the next week.
Ask yourself every day what you will do today to achieve your goal. If you are like me and you love a list, there should be something in your to do list every day that will help you reach your goal.
Step 3
Review the WHY and the ONE THING itself regularly.
Don’t think of this as a New Year thing think of it as the year you finally made that change.
2016 has 12 months and each one can bring something different by way of achieving your health and fitness goals.
Put a review in your diary when you set a goal and make sure that you stick to it.
It’s hard to stay focussed for long periods of time so it’s a good idea to review your goals at least every three months.
By having only one overall health and fitness goal at a time you are less likely to feel overwhelmed. In three months’ time you may want to work towards a different goal and that is ok. It can rejuvenate your efforts.
If you want to look in more depth at setting health and fitness goals I recommend looking at each area of health and fitness first so you can prioritise what to work on first.
You can download my free email course which will help you with this every step of the way.
It’s called The Wheel of Health and you will receive this great tool for reviewing where you are now and setting actions in every area of your health from what you eat to how well you sleep and manage stress.
I promise not to use your email address for spam and if you download the tool and you don’t like the free information that comes with it you can unsubscribe at any time, no hard feelings!
I'm off to look out for your subscription!
Happy New Year!
Kirsty xx
