Why You Should Ditch New Year’s Resolution?

I absolutely love starting off a new year. It always brings with it that feeling of freshness and renewal and excitement over all the possibilities that the upcoming New Year will bring. Anything can happen and although we don’t need the start of a new year to make changes, it sure has that natural effect on so many.

The problem is that many of you will make New Year’s resolutions and do your best to stick with them only to see yourself fall short by February. The reason is because people often times make too big of resolutions that they are almost impossible to stick with.

Instead of a major resolution this year like “i will not eat sugar for 6 months or I will lose 30 LBS this year why not create a check list with small attainable goals so that as you reach them you can check them off.

As you attain these small goals one at a time it will be easier to reach your final goal and stick with it without the pressure of those overwhelming lofty goals right from the get go. For example, instead of saying I am going to lose 30 LBS this year why not say I am going to try to get at least 20 minutes of exercise in at least 5 days a week. Or, I am going to increase my veggie intake and include 1 green juice or smoothie every day. Or, when I get a craving for sugar I will take a 5 minute walk and drink a large glass of water and see if that craving goes away and if it doesn’t I will then reach for a piece of fruit.

Small goals allow you to reach your large goal over time without the same stress of the large goal. Small steps are an easy way to create lasting changes. My clients hear it from me all the time! “Small changes create lasting result”!

Making huge resolutions almost sets us up for failure from the start. How many of you have made resolutions and within the first few weeks you blew it and then it crushed you and instead of saying i will just get up tomorrow and start again you quit altogether? I certainly have. It’s depressing to set these goals for yourself and then feel like you failed.

So this year let’s all make a resolution not to make a resolution and set small attainable goals instead. Want to see an example of my 2015 plan? Ok here is is!

Spend 2 hours each week of quality time alone with each member of my family Rather than saying spend more time with my family I set a specific small and attainable goal. Of course I would like to spend more time but I am also realistic and know that we all have jobs and lives and time is hard to come by.

Include 1 green juice or smoothie every day into my diet.

Do not buy processed junk food from the store. I didn’t say I’m not eating any sugar I just said I’m not going to buy any. I may make homemade goodies and that’s fine but I know that by not buying pre-made junk I will be eliminating most of the sugar from my diet.

I will pick at least 3 different fun fitness methods to do each week. In the past I would have said exercise 5 days a week but I know that sometimes I get busy and can’t always do that and then I feel like I failed and quit altogether. Mixing up my fitness routine keeps things fun and I know 3 days is attainable and if I can do more I will.

Allow myself 2 hours of alone time every week to do whatever I want uninterrupted. This is a biggie and in the past I would have resolved to spend more me time but without specific plans on how to do that I would have failed. Now I can schedule in 2 hours in my calendar and it does not feel overwhelming. I can even use those 3 fitness times as my personal time by hiking or doing yoga or kayaking alone.

Do you see how this list is different than others? I am specific with my goals and they are all small and within the scope of my reality. If your goal seems unrealistic for your life you probably won’t achieve it. Be realistic and simple in your goals and you will see big changes in your life.