I have a love-hate relationship with New Year’s Resolutions. I love the idea of a fresh start and setting new goals. Regardless of how much we failed to diligently stick to our plans last year, the New Year brings new opportunities, a chance for change and the hope of maybe, just maybe reaching the goals set for THIS year. That’s the love part. The part that irks me about New Year’s Resolutions is the fact that they happen on January 1st. Once a year. But why wait for January 1^st? Why not start setting goals now? I find myself continually reminding my clients that EVERY single meal and snack is a chance for a fresh start and another golden opportunity to make a healthy choice.

That being said, I am a HUGE fan of setting goals: specific, realistic and achievable ones. Conquering goals is what makes us push forward and become better. But the question remains, how do we stick to our resolutions and not let them fade out weeks or days after getting started? The 2013 statistics said that less than a week into the New Year, 22 percent of Americans already failed to keep their resolutions. Why? They didn’t tell us that part of it, but I think it’s due to not having realistic, specific goals and not coming up with a step-by-step game plan for achieving them and/or a lack of accountability. Here’s what I recommend for conquering your resolutions this year:

1)    Be honest with yourself. Spend some time envisioning where you’d like to be on January 1, 2015. Get clear about where you’re at and what you want for your health and life. Where do you need to make changes? What’s that uncomfortable area that you feel uneasy and defensive about and really don’t want to tackle? Is it sugar addiction? Is it fear of eating fat? Is it meeting face to face with a healthcare practitioner who might ask you to face your fears once and for all? Maybe a specific area for change popped into your head. Or maybe you need to journal some of your goals to help shed light on what might be preventing you from reaching them. If you’re stuck, then it may be a good time to contact someone like myself. I love playing detective and helping people figure out what’s holding them back. And I’m pretty good at it too 😉

2)    Write down your goals. If you didn’t need your journal for point #1, then take it out now. Write down your goals and after you write each one, determine if it’s realistic by asking yourself if you can see yourself achieving it. If you hesitate or answer no, then break the goal down into a smaller one until you can visualize achieving it. Next, make a bulleted list of the necessary steps you will take to achieve each goal. Make these specific! After you write each step, ask yourself “How?” and keep making it more specific until you can’t anymore, like the photo shown above this post.

3)    Make a list of WHYS. The German philosopher Nietzsche once said, “He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how.” The reality is we’re not going to do something if we don’t think the reward outweighs the sacrifice. I see this all the time with my clients. When things get tough and the work seems too overwhelming, it’s essential for them to bring back the reasons why they sought to make changes in the first place. Let this be your motivator to remind yourself of the reasons you’re seeking change more often. Common reasons my clients write down for seeking my coaching services include: living to see my grandkids, be able to travel the world when I’m retired, conceive and have a healthy pregnancy, be a role model for my children, and have enough energy to play with my kids after work. These are the true motivators. These are the things that matter most in life. What are your WHYs?

4)    Plan ahead. Come February or March, where do you think you’ll be? Still going strong? Needing inspiration and fresh ideas? A good indicator of future behavior is past behavior. What happened in 2012 and 2013? How did you continue to stay motivated and where were you a few months in? Take action today by planning ahead for when things may get tough.

5)    Plan for setbacks. Just like if you dropped your phone on the floor, you wouldn’t smash it until it breaks, and just because you ate a donut or two, doesn’t mean you should completely give up. Part of making lifestyle changes is learning how to deal with life. Everyone slips but what’s most important is knowing how to get back on track instead of falling deeper and deeper into a hole. Explore which strategies work best for you when it comes to picking yourself up when you fall. Learn from your failures and move on instead of allowing them to define you.

6)    Get accountability. We aren’t meant to endure this life alone! Confide in someone and let them know your goals and how you plan to achieve them. Make sure this person is someone you will be in contact with on a regular basis. Ask them to hold you accountable to the plans you’ve made and the goals you are trying to achieve. Tell them to remind you of your WHYs when you feel like giving up.

If you are seeking accountability or need a detective to investigate where you need to change in order to reach your goals, check out our personal coaching program. Then grab my BEST tips to BOOST your metabolism by clicking the pink button below!

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