Last Updated on December 26, 2015 by Michael Brockbank
I know a lot of people that simply refuse to set a New Year’s Resolution because they don’t want to set themselves up for failure. In reality, it’s all about how you look at the resolution itself. Is it something you can accomplish, or is the goal too unrealistic to complete in the first place? Personally, my New Year’s goals are centered more around what I can accomplish rather than having delusions of grandeur. What can you do to make your resolutions more successful for the year?
Ways to Accomplish Your Health Goals for the New Year
I’ve touched base with keeping your goals realistic in the past, and I’m a firm believer in this ideology. If you break up an ultimate goal into smaller parts, you can work towards an end result. This makes the goal far more obtainable rather than concentrating an a single objective.
For example, I want to weigh 180 pounds by Halloween. While this is a nice goal to have, it means I have to lose almost 100 pounds. This can seem a bit intimidating for some. Instead of the end result being the focus, I’m going to say that I want to remain at least 500 calories in the green each day according to MyFitnessPal. This means I will lose between eight and twelve pounds each month. It’s a daily objective that is built around the end result of losing 100 pounds by October 31st.
Building Onto Strength
Let’s say you want to add more to strengthen your body. Instead of focusing on being able to bench press 400 pounds, start working on what you can accomplish today. Set a goal for yourself to surpass what you’re able to lift by slowing increasing the weight over time. I usually increase the weight by five pounds if I feel that the weight I am lifting is too easy. Plus, I am not looking bulk up. I just want to be able to throw a bag of dog food into the back of the truck without it feeling like I’m lifting a building.
The Mental Aspects Behind New Year’s Resolutions
Failing at anything can be quite debilitating for virtually anyone. By setting an unrealistic New Year’s Resolution, you may be setting yourself up for failure. You need to set goals that you’re capable of accomplishing. Otherwise, it can be damaging to your psyche.
Boosting Self-Confidence
Confidence in yourself is a vital piece to being successful in anything you do. If you set an unrealistic goal, it can shatter your confidence and directly affect your motivation to continue. By breaking down the ultimate objective, you can build onto your confidence with each accomplishment. This will help build motivation while enhancing the pride you have within yourself.
Avoiding Self-Pity
Having pity in yourself can also directly affect your motivation. By trying to focus on a larger end-game, you could begin to feel as though you won’t be able to accomplish the task. This can also play into how you view failures. If you set a daily goal and you fail, think of it more as learning how to avoid doing the same mistakes tomorrow. Life is all about learning, and a failed attempt should become part of expanding your knowledge.
How to Accomplish Your Ultimate Goals
It’s OK to set your end result and reach for the stars. However, breaking down the objective into easier to accomplish parts can help you piece it together like a puzzle. Here is what I am doing for the up coming year – perhaps it can help you focus on your own abilities.
Mind Mapping Tools
Mind mapping tools such as Mindomo have free versions to use and can be extremely helpful for breaking down primary objectives. If you choose not to use this application, you can still break down your objectives into easier goals.
Separate Your Main Goal
Write down your main goal. Mine is losing 90 pounds. Break it down into what you need to do in order to accomplish this objective. For example, I would right down “eating better” and “getting more exercise.” Now, break down those things even further. Under “eating better,” I would write down focusing more on healthier foods and keeping my calories in the green in MyFitnessPal. Under “getting more exercise,” I would right down maintaining 500 points per day in Exercise.com, walking everyday and spending more time playing the Xbox kinect.
The further you break down all of the objectives, the easier things become. Instead of focusing on losing 90 pounds, I now focus on keeping my calories low each day while scoring points on Exercise.com. If something happens one day and I’m unable to meet my daily goal, the impact to the ultimate goal is less than if I was to simply give up entirely.
I hope I didn’t confuse you in this post. The gist of all this centers around making easier healthy choices. Think of it like a puzzle as each piece plays into accomplishing your New Year’s Resolution. Don’t simply say you want to lose weight. Create a plan for yourself that is easy to follow in order to accomplish your goal. For me, I am calling it my “500 Plan”: 500 calories in the green and 500 points minimum exercising each day. This kind of a system is quite easy when you consider that each of these two numbers isn’t all that difficult to accomplish.
What works best for you when it comes to your ideas of a healthier new year?
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