Its that time of year again. January 1st rolls around, inspiration strikes, and everyone seems to have a New Years Resolution they are trying to achieve. The gyms are packed, the health food stores become clogged with everyone trying to better themselves in the New Year. While this is a very exciting time of year, sadly, the majority of New Year’s Resolutions don’t make it past the first week. Why is that?

Let’s talk about that.

Today I’m going to share some tips about motivation, consistency, and how to crush your goals.

1) Set Realistic Goals

This is probably the biggest issue with most resolutions that people make. They want to be more fit, get those six pack abs, or be bikini body ready, so they create an unrealistic resolution that looks something like “ I’m going to go to the gym 6 days a week this year,” or “I’m going vegan this year.” While these are very ambitious goals, they are not sustainable. Switching up your entire lifestyle overnight is not the answer. The key to reaching a goal is consistent progress. These goals eventually become so lofty and unattainable, that people give up. This is what happens with 99% of resolutions.

2) Start SMALL

When you choose a goal, make sure it’s something both reasonable and sustainable that you feel you can easily achieve. It’s actually better to start smaller than you think. You can always break a large goal up into several “mini goals.” Each mini goal will help change your behavior in a consistent and slow way, getting you closer to your overall goal. So using our examples from above, try going from

“I’m going to go to the gym 6 days a week this year” to ——>

“I’m going to make it to the gym one day each week this month.”

OR

“I’m going vegan this year.” to ———->

“ I’m going to strive to eat at least one vegetarian dinner this week.”

Starting small ensures that you will actually REACH your goal. When you reach your first goal, you will feel proud of yourself, get a nice boost of confidence, and a hefty dose of motivation to keep going and achieve your next goal. This step often never occurs when you set lofty goals, so you run out of steam quickly. After you reach your first “mini” goal, you can then move onto the next mini goal, and push yourself a little harder. You can even set mini goals for you to reach each month!

3) Focus on Cans, not Can’ts

This is a great tip for anyone trying to get rid of a bad habit. Since motivation comes from within, its important that we remain positive to maintain our motivation.

The basic rule is : If you are trying to get rid of something bad in your life, add so much good into your life that there is no longer room for the bad.

For example, if you are trying to eat healthier, its much easier to do so if you focus on all the things you CAN eat, rather than everything you can’t. If you are trying to become a vegetarian, it would be more helpful to strive to add more veggies to your diet, rather than to focus on all of the meat you can’t eat. If you are trying to stop drinking soda, striving to drink 64 ounces of water a day is a more helpful thing to focus on, rather than all the soda you can’t have. Eventually, when you add in positive things into your life, there won’t be time or room for the negative things.

4) Use a Visual Aid

Visual aids are a very powerful tool to help you track your progress, see how far you’ve come, and keep you motivated! Visual aids often involve “chunking” up the overall goal into small goals, which is already a crucial step in your success as mentioned above. Visual aids can also serve as a reminder to keep moving towards your goal, and keep you in the right mind set to stay committed. Visual aids can be :

Crossing off days on a calendar each time you reach your goal
Using a daily journal
A sticker chart
Using your phone background

5) Set Yourself Up for Success

Setting yourself up for success is a strategy that can be applied to any aspect of your life. I use it all the time in my daily life! For example, I know I’m not a morning person. I really struggle to feel motivated in the morning; I am much more awake and engaged at night. Thus, I play to my strengths and set myself up for success by packing my lunch, showering, and even picking out my clothing for the next day (down to my socks) the night before. When I wake up in the morning, everything is ready for me to go, and I can successfully get to work on time.

You can employ this strategy too. Set yourself up for success by identifying barriers to your success. Then try and do something to combat the obstacle before it happens.

-For example, if your goal is to save money, try putting some aside in a separate bank account so you can’t access it.

Or try using cash and leaving your debit card at home on a night out, so you can’t spend over your limit.
If you want to lose weight, its a lot easier to do that if you don’t buy junk food or have access to it.
You can also be proactive in preparing healthy snacks, so you don’t lose control when you’re hungry.

6) Allow a Transition Period

One of the most powerful lessons I have learned about changing your behavior was given by one of my professors at chiropractic school. She did an entire lecture on how she was addicted to butter. She wanted to switch from butter to margarine. She knew she couldn’t do it cold turkey, so she was very slow and methodical in her approach. She began by just mixing in a TINY amount of margarine with her butter on her bread. The next week she would do a little more. Eventually she could do a half and half mix of butter and margarine. Then a week or two later mostly margarine, and so on, until she no longer needed the butter at all.

The point is, even the biggest, most inconceivable goals can be achieved if we take it ONE STEP AT A TIME. Allowing yourself a transition period, rather than expecting your behavior to switch from black to white overnight, is a very successful approach.

7) Nix the Accountability Partner

Accountability partners are commonly used when people are trying to reach a goal. While this can be a helpful strategy at the beginning, the ultimate goal would to become your OWN accountability partner. If your accountability partner wavers in their own motivation, it could affect yours. Or, if your partner ‘s progress differs from your own, it could either slow you down or discourage you. Try making one of your visual aids into an accountability partner. For example, you could keep an accountability journal, or cross off days on a calendar for each day you take a step towards your goal.

8) Try Something Totally Different

I was introduced to a very cool idea and a new way of looking at behavioral change by Dr. Emily. Dr. Emily likes to pick a single word at the beginning of each year to try and live by. She then puts this word as her phone background ( or anywhere that she will be constantly reminded of it) for the entire year.
This last year, her word was “enough.” She focused on the fact that she herself was enough. She wanted to focus on more balance and not expecting too much of herself. Her word helped her to remind herself that she worked hard enough, that she did enough for others, and ultimately it helped her to realized that she was enough.

What words will motivate you this year?

Some words that I’m thinking of using this year are:

Balance

Love

Presence

Peace

Gratitude

Focus

Energy

Final Thoughts:

In closing, the New Year can be a very exciting and motivating time to try something new. Take your new found energy and channel it into something good! Always to remember to give yourself credit for the changes youre making — even if you’re not perfect. On to the Roaring 20s! Happy New Year :)

New Year New.... LIFESTYLE! : Kicking New Year's Resolutions to the Curb.