You don’t have to be among the millions who ditch their health resolutions.
Depending on which polls you look at, it appears to be standard practice
for most people to ditch their New Year’s Resolutions by mid-February.
Whether it’s a shortage of time to commit to changes we want to
make or a lack of motivation, we seem to lack the stick-to-it-iveness
to employ positive changes that become good, long-term habits for healthy
living. But polling results don’t define us. Knowing what we want
for our lives and then setting our intentions to manifest that life is
hard work. But it is not impossible. It would be best to have a plan with
built-in bumpers to keep you on the right path.
First, there is no amount of worthwhile “success” which is
easily come by. Success at anything worth doing takes hard work, determination,
and perseverance. However, a lofty goal can be “chopped up”
into smaller, more bite-sized mini-goals that can set you up for ultimately
achieving that significant objective. Take weight loss as an example.
Losing weight is a popular New Year’s Resolution – with nearly
half of all “resolvers” choosing it as a personal improvement
goal. If you’ve got a lot to lose – 50 pounds perhaps –
achieving such a goal can seem downright daunting. But what might happen
when you chop the objective up into smaller 5 or 10-pound increments?
Then, at each 10-pound mini-goal achieved, you reward yourself with something
non-food related? Perhaps it’s a new wardrobe item for your slimmer
physique or a massage. No matter what you choose, your brain loves rewards,
and the prize helps fuel the good habit.
Even your mini-goals are going to get tough to stick with sometimes. This
is where positive self-talk and pushing through obstacles come in handy.
Decide that you’re going to refuse to be anything but the best version
of yourself. If, to you, that means becoming a marathon runner, for example,
then push yourself to accomplish that early-morning run on a day you really
didn’t want to get out of your warm bed. Write down the accomplishment
and try to recall it each time your old self wants to get in the way of
who you’re trying to become. Again, if “marathon runner”
is someone you want to become and that seems far out of reach, start first
with “I want to become a person who runs three times a week,”
or break that down even further into: “I want to become a person
who runs a mile without stopping.” Small goals achieved add up to
big rewards over time.
On the note of physical fitness or other health and wellness goals, I firmly
believe that every one of us is a natural-born athlete and survivor. These
traits are genetically wired into our collective human DNA. If you’ve
never run a day in your life, picked up a dumbbell, or stepped onto a
tennis court, it is never, ever too late to start. When you do, your body
will begin to “remember” what it was designed to do. When
you stick with exercise and fitness goals, you will gain mental and physical
strength that might’ve seemed impossibly achieved just a few months
ago. The key is not to quit when the going gets tough, and it will get
tough sometimes.
It may sound like a cliché, but we all live the life we want. Human
beings are insanely intelligent creatures. But our brains are wired for
energy conservation – so those habits that are the shortest means
to an end (eating fast food versus making a meal at home, for example)
are often going to win out over more labor-intensive tasks. Knowing this
is true about ourselves can significantly help improve our lifestyles
and stick with the resolve to be better versions of ourselves. It will
rarely be easy, but it will always be worth it. Don’t let the month
on the calendar dictate your “better you” destiny, the power
is all yours – 365 days a year.
Sources:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/how-to/six-reasons-why-your-new-year-resolutions-dont-work/articleshow/88658576.cms?from=mdr