Do you make new year resolutions?
I don’t really make them anymore, but I do think about the year ahead and think about what I intend to do more of over the course of the year.
I wrote about this on my Instagram account recently, but this year I’m going to focus on wasting less food.
More on that in another post. In this post, I want to give you some tips about how to stay focused on keeping your resolutions, goals and intentions in check.
I remember when I used to go to a gym thinking how busy it was at the beginning of the year. “Oh here come all the the resolution people!” and they were all gone by the second week of February.
It happened every single year.
So how can we create new habits and keep them long-term?
1. Be Realistic.
It’s easier to do small things over time instead of big things all at once. This isn’t always the case, but if you want to run a marathon, it makes more sense to run a 5k first and work your way up to a marathon over time. It’s also not recommended to start your marathon training in the freezing cold dead of winter especially if this is your first time running.
When it comes to food, small changes work as well. Switch out one thing at a time instead of just throwing out all of your old food and not knowing where to start.
(That being said you’ll have more success if you get out the junk food!).
If you like bread, choose a nice organic sourdough bread when you’re done your old loaf. Finish up your milk and try some nut milk or drink half cow milk and half nut milk for a bit until you get used to the taste.
Don’t do it all once because you will overwhelmed and your tastebuds might revolt before your brain does.
2. Be Specific.
This is related to the previous tip. Don’t just say “I want to eat better.” Being vague isn’t helpful.
Get specific about how you want to eat better: “I’m only going to eat grass-fed beef now,” or “I’m going to drink 8 glasses of water a day.” These are specific things you can grab onto each day making it easier to keep yourself accountable for accomplishing your goals.
3. Don’t Be Hard on Yourself.
Again, this is related to being realistic. Just because you go one day without drinking those 8 glasses of water a day does not mean you failed.
You are human my friend.
We will fall and get up and fall and get up throughout the course of our lives. Don’t be so hard on yourself because you didn’t follow through that one time (or even the second, third or fourth time!).
Instead do it again the next day because every day is a new day to try again and succeed.
Please don’t throw your hands into the air and think you failed because you didn’t lose 25 pounds after going to the gym for a week. It’s just not realistic and it doesn’t help to be hard on yourself.
4. Schedule it.
That’s right, put whatever it is you’re doing into your calendar. My husband schedules his workouts and even though he’s busy, he gets them done because it’s in his calendar and it’s important to him. If you consistently put your workouts or meal prep times or water drinking schedule into your calendar you’re more likely to follow through with it because you’ll get reminders to do it.
5. I’m a big believer of doing something now.
Don’t wait until January or September or when you’re 40 or when you’re not so busy at work or when you [insert every excuse in the book here].
You will find every excuse in that book to help you fail. So rewrite your book so that you Just Do It as Nike says and start paving your path to succeed your way.
I hope that helps you stay on track! You can do almost anything you put your mind to, you just have to be open-minded and realistic about it.
