It’s the perfect time to talk about NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS and if you haven’t broken your resolution yet, great job! Only a few days left until January 15th, a date that studies have shown around 95% of people who set a resolution tend to break it by then.

So why the poor success at resolutions? In my opinion, I feel most people really set themselves up for failure with unclear, undefined, and unrealistic resolutions. I’m almost certain you’ve heard someone utter these words or maybe they’ve even come out of your mouth before:

“I’m going to work out every day” “I’m going to stop eating sweets” “No cookies” “I’m going to go on a diet”

You get the picture. Every year, you hear and see people making the same resolutions to watch them cave into their cravings and go back to eating sweets or stop working out around two weeks later.

These resolutions are broad and don’t really motivate or pull anyone to be successful.

I suggest setting small goals instead of resolutions and progress from there. Goals supply you with a reason and put meaning behind what you are trying to accomplish.

Here are my 4 steps to setting successful goals

1.) Be specific: What is your goal? It’s important to be specific here if you want to lose weight. How many pounds?

2.) The sacrifice: How are you going to obtain your goal? Seldom in life are things just given to you and becoming fit is not one of those. If its your health or some other aspect of your life what are you going to do to reach your goals, are you going to learn a new skill to advance your career? If so, what skill? Do you want to lose weight? What do you plan to do to lose weight?

Don’t just write down you’re going to lose weight. Try: I plan on working out 3-5 days a week for 20-30 minutes and will make steps towards eating healthier by cutting back on Oreos and the ice cream I love to eat every night. Then, increase the duration of your workouts, and add a new healthy component each week to your meals to slowly change your bad habits for good ones!

3.) Have a target date: Without a date in mind, you can always justify saying you have more time. I suggest 90-day goals. If your goal is to lose 30 pounds in a year, then break it down into losing 7-8lbs every 3 months. Take progress pictures every couple of weeks to be able to look

back and see proof of your growth and progress. If you want to run a marathon or a few 5k’s, go sign up for them now. Then, you’ve made a commitment to the date and the goal.

4.) Visualize and Review: It is key to revisit your goal daily and visualize your success. So, during this step, begin with writing your goal, your sacrifices, and date you want it to be accomplished by, all down on paper. Every morning and night read your goal out load and visualize already completing your goal. If it’s to lose 30 pounds, visualize with 100% belief you have already completed this goal and how you would feel 30 pounds lighter. You may also look back on your progress pictures and look at the differences from month to month for additional motivation.

There are my 4 steps to being successful this year. If you’ve already broken your resolution, it’s okay. Start over and set a GOAL with these simple steps and make 2023 your most successful year ever!

Author: Kirk Henske Jan 12th 2023