According to a new survey from Forbes Health, the top resolutions for 2024 are to improve fitness, finances and mental health. So it's clear that people really want to do well, take care of themselves, stay out of debt and feel better emotionally and psychologically. But where do we begin?
Reaching these kinds of goals takes a lot of determination and consistency in behavior and schedule. So finding ways to approach the problems of inconsistency and broken schedules is a great place to begin. In other words, how to stay on track with your new goals and themes for the year.
Here is a simple method to consider: First, limit the plan to as few items as possible. Second, keep the goal and expectation within reach (even a little low if necessary). Third, place expectations and consistency at an equal level. So the summary of the plan is: A) few items, B) expectations within reach, and C) keeping expectations and consistency equal.
So here is an example: Let's say you want to lose 10 pounds. The first step is to keep that simple, not decide it also includes joining a gym, running 5 miles a day to reach it, altering your entire diet, and increasing the number of times you walk the dog a day to increase steps all to reach the goal of losing 10 pounds. Instead, the simple goal is just one goal, and that is to drop 10 pounds.
Next, you want to set the expectations for your 10 pound weight loss within reasonable reach. Calculating a reasonable number of pounds to drop per week, how to do that based on caloric intake and caloric burning, and determine a reasonable amount of activities or diet restrictions that can actually be reached on a daily and weekly basis. The key wording her is "reasonable expectations" of yourself and the diet, not unreasonable or even impossible.
Finally, you would determine what you can reasonably do on a consistent basis to reach these tasks and goal. Such as how far you can reasonably run if not 5 miles a day, and how many sit up or miles walked can your reasonably or actually fit in to your busy schedule without overloading yourself and starting to fail at the task?
Last year I wrote about setting "themes" for your New Year instead of "resolutions" or "goals". With that in mind, set these new target activities in your life as themes to focus on and not some end-all place to reach. Especially when it comes to tasks like dieting, where it's the lifestyle that is to change on a regualr basis and not just a number that is to be reached.
If your goal is to spend less money. Try outlining that goal with this three-part plan. One, keep it simple. Don't try to stop your daily latte', plus cut your grocery bill in half, plus cut out your Amazon shopping, and have your cable disconnected all at once. Start with something small that helps you learn to discontinue one thing consistently. If that item is within a reasonable level of expectation and you know you can do it, then try the easier task first. If, say, you just focus on cutting out the daily latte' and have a pretty good idea that that first goal is reachable, and that you can easily reach that expectation of yourself, then let that be enough at first. Being able to show yourself you can cut that item out over time leads to an overall feeling of success, which sets you up to try a second item on your financial goals list.
Whatever changes you have decided to tackle for the New Year, make sure they are simple, reachable, and you feel confident you can stay steadily after them until you reach success.
You can see my previous blog entry about ways to stick to your New Years resolution here.
"Motivation is what gets your started, habit is what keeps you going." ~Jillian Michaels
Thanks to Nan Fry for her great image, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
