A new year, a fresh start…whatever you want to call it, News Years holiday has just passed (happy new year!) and i’m sure you are all fast on your way to creating New Years Resolutions. So, I just wanted to share the below infographic that contains some powerful stats about New Years Resolution…plus, I gave some tips at the bottom for maintaining your News Years Resolutions throughout the year! Enjoy!
Here are a few tips to help turn your new year’s resolutions into HABITS:
Goals
Set achievable and measurable goals. ‘I want to lose weight, become healthier and eat better’ are not specific. Here are some more specific type goals: ‘I want to lose 10 lbs of fat, run a 5.. 10.. or 15K race, half or full marathon, and have 80% (or more!) of my meals be healthy and nutritious’ (then define healthy and nutritious). Being successful or unsuccessful is easily defined.
Confidence
You must have confidence that you WILL achieve your resolution goals. If you are not sure or don’t think you can achieve a goal, then guess what… You have already failed. If you approach a goal absolutely certain you will be successful, there is nothing that will stop you from doing so, it is only a matter of time before you do. Have confidence and believe in yourself!
Accountability
Find a friend, family member or loved one with a similar goal and make a commitment to each other that you will work towards that goal as a team. This will create a degree of accountability between the two of you. It’s easy to sleep in and skip your normal morning workout, but when know your partner will be left waiting for you, it’s a little more motivating to get out of bed and get going.
Motivation
What motivates you ? Do you want to become a better person? Do you want to become healthier for a loved one? Do you want to complete physical and athletic accomplishments you never thought possible? Whatever your goals, figure out what motivates you and surround yourself with constant reminders of why you are pursuing the goal. Post pictures around your room, on your mirror, or as your computer desktop wallpaper. Buy inspirational posters or post motivational quotes on a tackboard. By immersing yourself in a positive, motivational atmosphere, you will be more likely to pull through times of adversity or roadblocks to your success.
Identify Obstacles
Take a hard look at what pitfalls may be lurking out there to derail your plans. Is it temptation? Perceived lack of time? Whatever it may be, identify them and develop a plan to work through and around them.
Develop A Plan
Use the information you gathered above and put together a plan for success (if you’re not quite sure how to get there, Fitness by Patty can help provide fitness and nutrition advice and help you develop a winning strategy). Then expect to face adversity. Be prepared to work though the adversity and be flexible enough to change your plan to handle ‘life’ as it happens all while still working toward your goals.
Commitment & Sacrifice
Working toward any goal takes a degree of commitment and sacrifice to be successful. Maybe it’s sacrificing an hour of sleep to get up early to get your daily workout in or maybe it’s forgoing a few happy hours with friends to save $$, several hundred unwanted calories, and spend more time with loved ones.
How committed are you? How much are you willing to sacrifice to be successful?
Get Started!
To help you organize and track your goals and resolutions, I recommend using Lululemon’s Goal Tracking Worksheet, which you can download HERE
Taking the time to think through some of these things will help transform what started out as a new year’s resolution and help turn it into a new HABIT.