Did you know, 80% of people abandon their new year’s resolutions by Valentine’s Day?!? So what’s the point, why worry about goal setting if you’re just going to give up on it a few weeks later? Because having a goal to work towards versus just blindly moving about, is important to reaching success. The problem for most of us is, we’re probably not setting the right goals or planning for them properly. Not doing this sets us up for failure. Here’s how I set goals I can stick with, and ultimately meet.
3 Goal Setting Tips to Make Your Resolution Stick this Year
1. Focus on the purpose of your goals.
Most people erroneously build their new year’s resolutions based on the end result. They aim to lose a certain number of pounds or inches, fit into a smaller clothing size or perform a certain number of reps. If this sounds like you, STOP setting your goals this way! Instead, try building your healthy living goals based on how you want your healthy habits to make you feel.
Do you want to:
*Have more energy to climb the 6 flight of stairs up to your condo?
*Feel less self conscience while wearing shorts in the summer?
*Gain more control and confidence to start dating again?
Everyone’s reasons are different. Spend time digging deep to figure out why you truly care about getting healthier and stronger this year. Setting your goals with the “why” in mind, will get you through the challenging moments and enable you to stick with your goal for the long term. Give this motivational card trick a try:
2. Build a plan to reach your goals and track your progress.
After you’ve determined your “why”, figure out the actions and tools you need, to reach your final goal. Monthly fitness schedules and weekly meal plans, along with grocery lists and organized grocery trips are all tools that help me tackle my healthy living goals. Following a regular food preparation strategy is a critical process for me:
I find that tracking both my weekly fitness sessions and the food I consume, really helps me stay on track to successfully meet my goals. Tracking fitness and food increases your accountability and awareness of how healthy you’re really behaving. Throughout the month, try tracking how many times you went to the gym, and what you ate. When you perform better one week, or when you reach a milestone on your path to healthier habits, be sure to celebrate (in a healthy way of course)!
3. Give yourself a break.
To keep you stress down and you motivation up, it’s important to be kind to yourself when taking a long term approach to goal setting. It’s best to have a schedule and plan in place, but understand you may not be able to follow it 100% one month. Appreciate why you may or may not have met your goals for the month and revamp your plans as necessary. All or Nothing thinking is dangerous, it will set you back. I much prefer and have more success by following the 80/20 rule when it comes to goal setting.
To Sum it up…Follow these 3 Tips to Set Your Goals Successfully
Having a goal to work towards versus just blindly moving about, is important to reaching success. The problem is, most of us are probably not setting or planning for our goals properly. It helps to set a goal with a purpose versus just an end result. Building a plan and tracking results is something else I do to more successfully meet my goals. And when the going gets very tough, I’m understanding and kind to myself. I rejig my plan if necessary and keep moving forward. I hope these 3 tips help you better meet your new year’s resolution in 2023 guys!