7 Steps To Achieving Your New Year’s Resolution

7 Steps To Achieving Your New Year’s Resolution

We are now in January and the hustle and bustle of the holidays are alive and well. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve actually had some of our clients starting to talk about New Year’s resolutions and trying to come up with some things that they can do. With some of our VIP Year of Care clients, we are doing all the work for them with educating and executing their excise programming for them.  So, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about some of the things that we’ve discussed with our clients here to make their New Year’s resolution a HUGE success for them.

7 Steps To Achieving Your New Year’s Resolution

It’s pretty staggering to hear that nearly 70% of people put together a New Year’s resolution with most of them being some form of health, self-improvement, or even self-help.  That’s a lot of people vowing to make a change in their lives.  But, only about 8% actually follow through with achieving their goals… and that is a terrible statistic for the US!  We have to do better than that!

We have 7 steps to achieving your New Year’s resolution.  Consider each one carefully to determine which ones will work best for you.

1. Sit And Think

Sounds obvious, but you need to sit and think about what goals you want to achieve for the new year.  Take the time to determine what is really important for you this coming year.  This way, you are working towards a goal that means something to you.  Don’t read the magazines or watch Facebook posts on everyone else… Stay focused on you.

2. Write Them Down

The next task you have is you need to write out your goals. Sit down. Take some time and think about what it is that you really want to achieve in the new year.  Here are some common ideas that people often consider as goals they want to achieve.

  • Read a book every month.
  • Watch less TV.
  • Lose 15 pounds.
  • Lose 2 pant sizes.
  • Make better food choices.
  • Exercise for 45 minutes every other day.

There are many more examples out there.  Whatever your goals are, that’s great. Write it out. We recommend only picking 2-3 goals tops so that you can stay focused and work on the ones that are most important for you.  Plus… if you don’t write down your goals and place them where you can constantly see them, they most certainly will fizzle away into your memories. THEY NEED TO STAY ON TOP OF MIND! And before you know it, the year is gone and you’re like, “Oh yeah… I wanted to do that.” And by then it might be too late.

3. Make Goals Specific and Measurable

Once you determine your goals and write them down, the next step is to make your goals measurable. I think this is probably the easiest thing for people to do but is the thing that tends to get left out. How will you know if your goals are achieved?  What will it take to be successful? You’ve got to have some kind of measure to it. Whether it will be your exercise 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week or you read one book each month… That is entirely up to you! You at least know that if you’re not hitting that, you’re not on target to hit your goal.  

4. Be Realistic

You need to make sure your goals attainable and realistic. If you weigh 200 pounds and you say you want to lose 50 pounds, you’ve really got to look at yourself and go, “Can I really do that or am I going to literally starve myself, in which there can be a serious health consequence along with that?” If your schedule does not allow you to exercise 2 hours a day, then why put yourself through the torment of trying when it just cannot be accomplished.

5. Timestamp And Approval

And the last piece is that you need to make sure that it is time-specific. So, by February, this is what I want to achieve. By May, this is what I want to achieve. By October, this is what I want to achieve. And by December, this is what I want to achieve. If you give yourself a time component that helps you to understand…are you on track with that plan?

Now, you can start with one big goal, which can ultimately have several little goals underneath it, but all those little things should help push you towards that big goal. Now, at Level4, we all have different things that we like to do. Myself, I like running, soccer, yoga, and weightlifting. Dr. Dawn, she likes doing Pilates, running, and she does a little bit of weightlifting herself.  All of us at LEVEL4 have similar goals but how we go about getting that goal done…entirely different. And that’s okay.

In fact, I would even tell you that some people need a little bit of help in trying to figure out what it is that they want to be able to do. And that’s why we have started talking with a lot of our clients on some of the other services that we provide, to help people be realistic and achieve the goals in which they want for 2018. We’ve had fitness training that we’re implementing now and Pilates classes that are alive and well. We’ve got our yoga classes that are going to be starting in January. So, we’ve got a lot of things that are going on to help support people in 2018.

6. Enjoy The Ride

My last bit of advice for you is to make sure that you’re doing things that you really enjoy doing.  If you don’t enjoy the ride, the likelihood is you’re not going to stick to it. Surround yourself with people who are motivated to do the same things or goals.  This way, you have support to achieve your goals.  Take your kids on a hike or on a bike ride. Get your friends to go out, and go to the beach and play some volleyball.  Whatever activities it may be, have fun with it and keep the social support that you need in order to achieve it.

7. Reward Yourself

The single most important thing to do when you achieve your goal is you must reward yourself.  Reward your sacrifice, your dedication, your efforts!  It’s important because it keeps you motivated and focused on achieving your outcome.  If you want to go on a vacation or trip, take pictures, or have a nice dinner out, make it something you can really work for.  This way, you are on it to achieve your goals all year long!

What To Do Next

We love helping people achieve their goals.  If you’d like to find more information about some the wellness services that we offer and receive one of our wellness guides, please click on each respective service (Pilates, Yoga, or Fitness/Performance) or give us a call at 760-503-4440 and we will get it right over to you.  If you are ready to try out one of our services, we offer FREE taster sessions for pilates reformer and a FREE online yoga class (or click on either button below).  Let us know what you want and we can help you achieve your goals for the new year.

Dedicated to your health,

Dr. Oscar Andalon, DPT, STC, MTC, CSCS, SFMA

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Oscar Andalon, DPT, STC, MTC, CSCS, CF-L1, MWOD, USAW, FMS/SFMA
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