Friday, January 16, 2009

What’s your New Year’s resolution?

Every year at this time most of us go through the same process of setting goals for the New Year. Some will follow through on their goals while most have abandoned their plans by mid-February.

So how about making a resolution this year to not have to make any resolutions in 2010? What?

That’s right, I have a plan. The plan is to make small, permanent changes in 2009 that will result in not having to make any resolutions for next year. As a personal trainer (that’s my other gig) I see people constantly dealing with the battle of the bulge. Staying in shape is not rocket science. But it does require consistency.

You can’t tackle any big obstacle all at once. You have to patiently chip away at it. And the only way you can do that is to change your train of thought and your approach. For example, say you want to lose 40 pounds. Well you know you aren’t going to lose that in a month (you’re not) so you have to break that down into small, quickly achievable goals. Like 2 pounds a week. That’s something you can measure in a mere week and at the same time have a successful outcome. Remember, that 40 pounds didn’t get there in a month to begin with…

So instead of these massive behavioral shifts in January of every year how about we start making some small but significant changes daily; weekly; monthly. They say it takes 30 days to form a habit, so make a pact each month to change something about your life that you’d like to see take a different path. Before you know it your New Year will be resolution free and you can live your best life!

D.J.

No comments: