If you are one of those who keep setting the same goals year after year and find yourself losing energy, motivation, and purpose within the first month of the new year – you are not alone! According to ACE Fitness Journal January issue 25% of people who set goals have already given up after one week into the new year. Even more staggering, “80% of people who make a new year resolution have given up by the second week of February according to the U.S. News & World Report. Learn from your past! Did you set and achieve last years goals? If so - CONGRATULATIONS! If not, take your previous goals and learn from them. Why did they not work? What could you’ve done differently?
Now that you’ve analyzed your previous years goals - why do you set fitness and health goals? What is in it for you? If you are already thinking about what it will feel like to achieve your goal – great! However, there is one step to consider before you actually envision your future self! What does it take to get there? Are you willing to make those sacrifices? It is easy to dream away and see ourselves 1, 2 or 3 months down the line. It is more difficult to realize what changes need to happen to get us there. After all, if you don’t change how you live your life, your life will not change.
It is important to thoroughly analyze and realize what the process looks like to achieve your goal. Maybe you want to lose 15 lbs in 3 months (which is totally doable, by the way), but you only have a limited amount of time to get workouts in. When will you do your workouts? How will you realign your life to support how you spend your time and energy differently? What kind of support will you need?
Maybe you are more interested in cooking healthier food, rather than changing your activity level. What impact will that have on your day-to-day life. Will you have your whole family eating the same food? How much time and energy will it require to do your meal planning and shopping. Will you spend money on food delivery services (e.g., hello fresh, sun basket). Now, back to the “why?”. Are you truly setting the health and fitness goal for yourself? Are you listening to family and friends who are telling you what you should do? This gets us to the intrinsic motivation that is so important to create achievable goals. YOU need to be the one who wants to do this for YOU! Yes, you might use extrinsic motivational factors to motivate yourself to begin with, but ultimately YOU are the one who needs to do it for YOU!
So, think about your health goal and answer the following questions: Why is this important to you? What sacrifices will you need to make? Are you ready to deal with those sacrifices? How will it change your daily life? What support will you need to be successful?
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