It’s January 1st, which means everyone is out there setting up their New Year’s Resolutions. Setting this once a year goal is simple. It only takes 3 steps.
- Think of all of the ways your life can be better. Maybe you want to read more. How many books can you read in a year? Can you do one per week? Reading 52 books would make you pretty smart, right? Or maybe, you’ll finally start eating healthy, drinking more water, and exercising daily. That seems to be a common one. Anyways, make a list.
- Commit 150%. Show the world who’s the boss. Start waking up at 5am to workout, unplug the tv, only have chicken salads for lunch, and carry a gallon of water with you everywhere.
- Give up, usually after a week, maybe a month. Though I know of an interesting pattern where people think the gym will be too busy the first week after the New Year, so they actually wait a few weeks because they know people will give up and it’ll be less busy. This group is basically just a few weeks behind everyone else… but I digress.
So here’s the thing, and I’m pretty sure everyone knows this, but resolutions fail. My guess, using my psychology background, is that humans are too aggressive. One missed day at the gym and it’s over. “If I missed today, what’s the use waking up early tomorrow to workout.” Then it’s just back to our old habits, until the next year when we optimistically think it’ll be different.
You can read tons of books about how to be successful, but I’ve done it for you and I’m going to tell you what works for me, the unique person named Erin.
Erin’s Guide to New Year’s Resolutions and Goal Setting
Set goals year round
There’s no reason a New Year’s Resolution has to be on New Years. I like to create new habits and set goals year round. Just last month, I started listening to book summaries as a way to get some information and find new books to read. I’m currently trying to track my food to try to gain strength/muscle. Analyzing what you want to change in your life should be constant, not a one time thing.
Smaller tasks are better
If it sounds dumb, you’ll be more likely to do it and stick to it, even on days when you don’t want to get out of bed and the world is overwhelming. This happens more often than I’d like. I get it. As an example, in college, I wanted to exercise more. I hated (and still hate) cardio. Gliding on an elliptical, even when my tv show is playing, is not my idea of fun. So my goal was just to put my gym clothes on and walk to the gym. It was in the building behind my dorm room, so this was really low effort. It turns out though, that once I was there, I would sometimes stretch “so I wouldn’t look dumb”. Maybe I’d lift some weights or go on that elliptical. One thing snowballed into another, and after a few weeks, I had a habit.
Use rewards liberally
If your goal is to lose 10 pounds, you’re going to get discouraged on a day you gain weight or when it takes a long time. Following step 2, break this goal down, and then give yourself a reward for doing the smaller pieces. If you remember a kid’s sticker chart, that’s what I use. If I do the task, I get a sticker, and when I get enough stickers, I get something I want, like legos. NO CHEATING! If you give yourself the reward before completing the task, you’re just hurting yourself. For my gym challenge in college, I would get an hour of tv if I went. If I didn’t, no tv, which was really not cool.
If you mess up, start again ASAP
You’re not going to be perfect and that’s okay. Just don’t give up. Get back on track. You want those stickers, don’t you?
Random tip: Don’t change everything at once. It’ll be easier to modify your routine without completely disrupting it. I need my routines.
Erin’s Goals and Resolutions
- Lift heavy. I want to get my 330 deadlift and 135 bench this year. I’ve been aiming for this for a year, and it’s going to take lots of little steps. First, mobility before and after working out. Second, workout weekly according to my routine. Breaking this into a mini-goal, I’m going to stick with getting dressed and going through my warn up mobility exercises.
- Track food. I have a nutritionist, so my only job here is weekly checkins and tracking weight/water/steps/food daily.
- Learn new things. Listen to five minutes of an audio book or article daily.
- Relax. Use the calm app for the daily calm in the morning.
And following my own advice, I’ve been working on these for over a month now, and they are still not habits yet, but I’ll get there. So set resolutions/goals year round, break goals into mini, easy to achieve tasks, use rewards liberally, and never give up.
