Resetting Those Resolutions

It’s hard to believe that we’re already a few days into February.  Where are you with those New Year’s resolutions?  Are you still hitting the gym every day?  Are you still eating healthy all of the time?  Studies have shown that 2/3rds of people don’t make it out of January with their resolutions intact.

The truth is most people set resolutions or goals that are nearly impossible to accomplish and are vague in their execution.  And once someone falls off of the goal to go to the gym every day it can be very easy to let that gym membership become just another card in the wallet.  And eating healthy all of the time can become a week filled with “cheat days” way too easily.  Even the most disciplined people can have trouble sticking to their original resolutions, but the key to success doesn’t involve waiting until next January rolls around.

Here are some tips to get back on track:

1. Set realistic and measurable goals.
   The key to success with any goal is to be able to measure your success. Maybe going to the gym every day sounded like a good idea, but your schedule dictates that you can really go 4 days a week.  Make that the goal and at the end of each week you’ll be able see where you stand.  Did you actually make it there 5 days last week?  Do you have a trip coming up that you need to account for?  Having focused goals will help you to drive to success.

2. Meal Planning
   The food goals can be difficult even for the best of us. It’s easy to say you’re going to eat healthy, but then really just end up eating what’s convenient.  The real key here is meal planning.  If you sit down and create a plan for the week before going to the grocery store it can make all the difference in how you eat.  By shopping once per week and only buying what you need to feed your family you will eliminate extra shopping trips and unnecessary foods in the house.  If you’ve ever looked in your pantry and wondered, “why do I have this stuff?”, you know exactly what I mean.  This can also reign in unnecessary spending (which is often another big resolution)!

3. Brownie Sunday
   Another important thing to remember to reward yourself for hitting your goals. Maybe you love brownies, but you only make them if you hit your gym goals.   Sometimes having that extra carrot will push someone closer to their goals.  Maybe you convince your family that if they are on board with eating healthy you will reward them with a pizza night on a Friday.  The key is rewarding yourself for sticking to your goals without losing sight of why you’ve set them in the first place.

This is topic that we could write a book on, but we hope maybe some of these simple steps will help you refocus and reset on what you want to accomplish in 2016!