Your New Years Resolution for 2016 is Not to Make One !

Posted by on Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The start of a new year is always a time of reflection, a time to look back on all the things you accomplished in the year and set up goals for the upcoming year. It is a time of year when people usually make a resolution, a promise for some sort of self improvement. 

Unfortunately, most resolutions are set up to fail and will cause a person frustration and disappointment when they don’t stick to their resolutions.  

The resolution is unrealistic. With the excitement of the new year and all the hype around being a new you many resolutions that are made are unrealistic. Resolutions like working out 7 days a week and losing an excessive amount of weight in a month are made. If you go from not working out at all to making a resolution to workout 7 days a week can seem unrealistic. When we make resolutions that are unrealistic it just sets us up to fail and then can lead us to a downward spiral.

Instead of making huge lofty goals make smaller more manageable goals. If want to start working and you want to build up to 7 days a week then start small. Make it a goal to workout 2 to 3 days a week to start so that it doesn’t seem overwhelming. Think about what you want your big goal to be and then break it down into steps to reach smaller goals so that you feel that you can easily reach your goals and can feel accomplished. 

You don’t have support. Someone who has a support system is 90% more likely to accomplish their goals and reach their resolutions. Making a commitment to resolve to improve oneself will take some work and the best way to help to reach those goals is to have a support system around you. Whether your goal is to lose weight or get healthy in the new year finding someone that can help support and guide you like a nutritionist or personal trainer will help you to reach your goals faster and keep you on track. 

Trying to reach a goal and follow through on a commitment without someone there to help support and guide you can be setting you up for failure. Think about your resolution and who you can recruit to help support you to help you stick to your goals. 

Based on Willpower. When you make a resolution that you need to rely solely on willpower you are setting yourself up for failure. Resolutions don’t focus on habits and small changes, they tend to be big overall goals. So a resolution of quitting smoking or eating healthy doesn’t really lend to success. 

50% of Americans will make a resolution during New Year’s and according to researcher Richard Wiseman 88% will fail at these resolutions.  Most resolutions are set up to rely on purely willpower and our brain can’t handle it. The brain cells that are responsible for willpower are also responsible for staying focused, handling short-term memory, and solving abstract tasks among other things. Willpower is limited by brain function so when we rely just on will power to help us reach our goals we are setting ourselves up for failure. 

Instead of relying on willpower start to think of your resolutions as small habit changes. If you looking to lose weight and eat healthy this year break it down into small habits such as I will workout 3 times a week for 20 minutes each day and substitute my morning bagel for oatmeal. 

You don’t have patience. Big goals take time to accomplish, you can’t lose 20 pounds overnight or make an extra million dollars overnight (or maybe you can:). Usually resolutions are big goals and require big lifestyle changes to accomplish them and that takes time. When you learn that you will need to be patient and enjoy the process along the way. 

Breaking your resolution up into smaller goals that are easily celebrated can also help. Knowing that you can celebrate small milestones will help with the overwhelm of being patient for the larger ones to be accomplished.  

You don’t believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself no one else will.  When making a resolution many people will make a large goal that they don’t really believe you can accomplish themselves.  Not believing you can achieve your goals is setting you up for failure before you even begin. 

No matter what your resolution may be, be sure that you believe you can accomplish it. Set yourself up for success by believing in yourself and practicing positive self talk. Whatever your goal or resolution is believe and visualize that you have already accomplished it. If your goals is to lose weight then visualize and feel exactly what you will look like and feel like when you reach your goal. What are the things you would do and wear, how will you act, what will change? Start to be all those things now in the present while visualize and feeling. You will become what your mind believes. 

Don’t have a why. Many times we make a resolution without having a powerful why or purpose behind the goal. We choose resolutions that we think we should be doing or that have superficial meaning behind it. 

For example wanting to workout more often, we all know we should work out for health reasons and it helps for aesthetic reasons but what is really your deep rooted reason why you want to work out. The why or purpose behind your goal should be deep enough to really propel you out of bed when its 6am and freezing outside and you have to get to the gym.

When making your resolutions or goals for the upcoming year really think about the why behind you want to accomplish these goals. Write down that why and put it in a place where you can focus on it daily. When times get tough and you are not sure you can reach your goals, go back to your why and it will help you to push through and accomplish your goal.

If this is the year you have decided to focus on your health then come join me in the Metabolism Reboot program. The number one resolutions most American make is to lose weight but unfortunately almost 90% people will fail at this goal. The Metabolism Reboot program was designed so that you can succeed if this is your goal. The program has a support system, a coach (me) to help hold you accountable, education on how to set up small goals and not rely on willpower and so much more.  Sign up today!! HERE