4 Steps to Getting Your New Year's Resolution Back on Track

It’s pretty common really.  Each year as January 1st rolls around, millions of us take stock in where we are at and we make a New Year’s Resolution.  For some of us, we resolve to lose some weight.

For others we commit to starting an exercise program.  For others it might be to eliminate a bad habit.

Whatever the resolution, we start with the intention of making a life altering change, only to find that, over time, our resolve begins to weaken, and we go back to our old habits.

Here are some tips that came help you re-energize your resolution and push you through to the finish line.

#1 - Make Sure You Have the Right Resolution

Sometimes we make resolutions in the “heat of the moment” without thinking them through.  That doesn’t mean the resolution is bad, its just that we might need to re-examine it.

Here is an example.  One of my patients was watching one of those weight loss shows and he saw that the contestants went from being dramatically overweight to being able to run a marathon.  His comment was “If they can do it, so can I” and he started training.  To his credit, he worked his way up to being able to run 6 miles pretty consistently.  The problem was he hated every second of it.

It wasn’t that the resolution was bad, it was just that it wasn’t right for him.  When he examined his feelings around the resolution, he adjusted it to consistently run 3 miles several times per week.  Once he made this adjustment, he was able to follow this resolution consistently.

#2 - Measure Progress – Not Perfection

Often times, our New Year’s Resolutions focus on “big goals” like I am going to lose 30 pounds.  The problem with big goals is that they often take time to achieve.  The truth is, even if you could lose 30 pounds in a week, it wouldn’t be healthy.  Healthy weight loss would be 1 to 2 pounds per week, week in and week out.

As long as you are making progress towards your goal, keep pushing forward.  If your progress slows, reevaluate how you are going about reaching that goal and adjust as needed.

#3 - Give Yourself a Break

Progress is not usually linear.  You will have ups and you will have downs.  Use weight loss as an example.  As we previously mentioned, the ideal way to lose weight would be to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week on average.  During that time you might have a week where you don’t lose any weight.  You might even have a week you gain weight.  But you might also have a week where you lose 3, 4 or 5 pounds.

If you have a bad week, put it behind you.  Know that you will have a great week in your future that will make up for the bad week.  Don’t focus on the negative, rather look forward to the future of reaching your goal.

#4 – Focus on Goal Achieving Activities

To understand what a “goal achieving activity” is, let’s use our weight loss example again.  If your goal is to lose weight, a goal achieving activity might be to eat healthier. So don’t focus on losing 30 pounds, focus on eating right for the next meal.  Then focus on the next meal.  Then focus on the next meal after that.  If your goal is to start a workout program, don’t focus on running a marathon.  Just focus on today’s workout.  Then tomorrow focus on the next work out.

When you stack these goal achieving activities on top of each other, one after another, day after day, you will see success.
By following these 4 simple steps, you will find that you will finally be able to achieve those New Year’s Resolutions that may have eluded you in the past.

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