At this time of year, it is standard to be thinking about resolutions and goals for 2018.
Here are our tips:
Resolutions generally don’t work for the majority, if they do work for you, awesome… you can probably just scan the rest of this blog 🙂 For a lot of people it is a highway to failure. Chances are this is not the first year you have talked about “getting in shape” and again when you slip into bad habits, it is easy to assign yourself to another failed resolution.
Don’t be vague – Saying “I need to get in shape” will not give you enough focus. Instead you could replace with, “I want to lose 10kg’s of body fat by May”
What is the day to day process – Are you willing to commit to it, be honest with yourself, or you are gearing yourself up to fail again. Will you train every day? Including when you have been travelling or had a terrible nights sleep? Will you pass the bread basket along? Will you get to sleep by 10pm? Perhaps you need to adjust and set something more realistic? What is the worst that can happen? You smash it!
Break the goal down into its components – this will give you something to track. Abstinence is also something you can track and often a lot easier “I am not going to have bread today” vs “I am going to eat more vegetables”, The first goal requires you simply saying “no” the other requires organisation.
You are what you repeatedly do (Create the habit) – Use an app like “Productive”. Set up time sensitive habits and when you achieve them, you get to cross them off. Create an extended chain of success. Turning your new habits into a competition with yourself is a great way to ensure you stick to it, the longer you go, the easier it gets.
Do it daily – It will be infinitely easier to create new habits if they are based on daily achievements. We’ve all said “I will get to the gym 3 times weekly” at first it is Mon, Wed, Fri and then you have a bad week and the sessions have to get crammed into Fri, Sat, Sun and before you know it, it drops to 2 and then perhaps none for weeks at a time. If you cannot get to the gym every day, perhaps your habit should be “to be active daily”, this will help you to achieve momentum and ease you into the superhero you!
Don’t focus on the goal, focus on the effort – The effort is where all the fun exists, this is where you will feel the buzz of achievement! 10kgs of body fat by May is great, but more important is not breaking the chain. Why 10kgs of body fat by May? Perhaps it could be more?
Human’s are scared of failure, so chances are, you are underestimating yourself.
Get back on the horse – You screwed up. It’s ok, this isn’t meant to be easy. Get that chain going again!
Best of luck everyone, what are your goals for 2018? We look forward to reading your comments.