It begins with December.
You find yourself wrapping up the year with all the holiday shopping, eating and cheer as usual and as New Year Eve approaches you start thinking about your New Year resolution. Ever wonder why you pick this time of year to do this? What is a New Year resolution anyway? It is a decision or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something. If you think about it, you make resolutions all year long. You just don’t think about the word as having meaning until January of each year. This is the time you decide to lose weight or live a healthier lifestyle and maybe you are firmly determined to stick to it this time. That’s great! Go for it.
What about the other eleven months of the year?
Where are your resolutions for the rest of the year? If you’re going to have a new year resolution for January, create one for February and March as well. Then for April, May and June and so on. Think how much more productive you will be if your resolutions continued all year long. Break the year up into four quarters. That’s only 3 months per quarter, 12 weeks. This is a doable time frame to work with.
In those 12 weeks think about what realistic resolution/s you can complete. Yes, I am suggesting you give a finite time to it because after those 12 weeks you can start again. Let me explain further. Let’s assume weight loss is your one and only resolution. You have 12 weeks to resolve it, in any manner you choose. Putting forth a realistic goal within that time will give you a feeling of completion and make it easier to move forward to your next 12 weeks. So let’s say that you want to lose 10 pounds in those 12 weeks. Your realistic goal is to lose 5 of those 10 pounds. Why would I suggest you cut in half? Easy. How excited will you be with yourself if you lose the 5 pounds? Excited? Right? What if you lose the 10 pounds in those 12 weeks? You will be through the roof, giddy, walking on cloud 9 with excitement, feeling great about yourself. Therefore, the resolution you put forth is a success. Your self-esteem has been raised, making it easier to move forward to your next 12-week resolution.
What about the next 12 weeks?
Your only resolution was to lose weight and now you lost the 10 pounds you wanted. How are you going to keep the weight off? You could go back to your usual ways but that would be counterproductive to the resolution. So the next part of that resolution is to maintain that weight loss. In order to do that, you have to look at what it took to lose the weight in the first place. You started eating healthier and exercising. That would stand to reason that you would continue to do that in order to maintain your weight.
This is what is called a lifestyle change.
Sure, you only have one resolution for yourself but it requires a consistent approach, a lifestyle. And this lifestyle isn’t cookie cutter in its fashion. It works differently for everyone.
January of each year is a new beginning, a fresh start. It’s the first month of the year and it is when we think the most about what we want for ourselves. Resolutions are only good if you actually apply them and continue with them. Make this year’s resolution a firm decision.
I’m a fitness coach that helps those in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s live a healthier lifestyle and achieve their resolutions. If you want to talk about how to stick to your resolutions, send me a message.