Are you managing to keep on track with your New Year resolutions? If so, well done you!
Recent research has shown that around 50% of us make some form of resolutions at the start of the year, but only 10% of us manage to stick to them for more than a few months.
So why is this? Well there are a multitude of reasons, but the two most common are:
So how do we over come this? A great place to start is to realise that habit based changes (stopping smoking, changing diet etc.) take time, it is not easy to change your day-to-day behavioral patterns and you should set your goals with a long term view of what success looks like.
Set S.M.A.R.T goals and write them down on paper. Your goals need to Specific to you, you have to be able to Measure what success looks like, you must know how you will Achieve your goals, they have to be Realistic and you have to apply a Time frame. Without this structure you are almost immediately setting yourself up for failure.
Here are a few keep steps that I share with my clients when we look at their goals, use these and you will have a much better chance of being in the 10% that succeed in achieving their dreams.
Set no more than 1 or 2 goals at a time – trying to change more than this at one time won’t work. Instead pick the one area in your life that you wish to change the most and begin with that goal. When you are successful with this change, then you can look at making another change. Break down the end goal in to more manageable “blocks”, by making small changes one after the other you will eventually reach that end goal of a whole new you.
Share your goals, don’t go it alone, ask for the help and support from trusted friends & family. If you share your goals then maybe some of your support group will go on the journey with you, giving you that extra motivation to succeed. By sharing your goals, it also makes you accountable to someone other than yourself. Yes, you are doing this for you, but having that accountability gives you a little more discipline when you know your friends will be checking on your progress.
Connect resolutions to a specific event – if you want to stop smoking so you can play with your children in the local park then visualise what this feels like. Imagine yourself doing this in 3/6 months times and think about how great you feel, hold on to those feelings and refer back to them when you’re going through a difficult patch.
If you do have a bad day, then don’t beat yourself up about it. Try to understand why you’ve had a lapse (a sneaky cigarette or a bar of chocolate), what were the triggers that caused this set back and vow to learn from them. Then put it behind you and move forward, don’t let one bad day ruin a great week.
Don’t forget to celebrate the little wins along the way, each little milestone should be enjoyed as it takes you one step closer to your end goal. Small rewards are great encouragement, something as simple as a trip to the cinema, spa treatment or a small gift to yourself. I’d recommend celebrating each month’s achievements, put something in the diary at the start of the month, something you’ll look forward to and feel like you deserve when you have another month on plan.
Whatever your targets are I wish you good luck, but don’t leave your goals to luck, create success and follow my steps above to help you be one of those 10% who do fulfill their dreams.
If you’d like more information on how I can help you reach your goals then please complete one of my consultation form by clicking here.
Mark
Founder of Lion Fitness – Level 3 REPS qualified Personal Trainer
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