Now is the time that most people start to contemplate making some New Year's resolutions. The sad truth is that most of us fail to keep our resolutions, giving up before the end of January in most cases! This is often because we make resolutions that are too big, too extensive, or too hard to maintain. Changes have to come about in small steps. Here are some ideas to consider:
1. My favourite: ADD in a healthy habit or something positive rather than try to stop or quit something. This lends a positive spin to your behaviour. Think about signing up to learn a foreign language, take a cooking course, join an amateur sports team, start corresponding with a pen pal, volunteer at the food bank, start practicing meditation, etc. If you add learning or giving into your normal patterns your life will become immeasurably richer.
2. Start small - create a resolution that is actually achievable. Does it sound overwhelming to try to lose 50 pounds? Sure. Why not try to lose 5 pounds at a pace that is comfortable for you. And once you achieve that goal be sure to celebrate (in a non-cake way, of course!) and then set a new goal - like another 5 pounds! Or perhaps reduce your diet coke intake from 2 a day to 1 a day....and after a time perhaps drop it down to just weekends. Achieving small goals sets you up for making and achieving more.
3. Pick a challenge - there are tons of free on-line challenges you can choose like a 30-day squat challenge, or 30-day sit-up challenge. Imagine starting with one, see how it goes, and choose another one the following month. Or decide that you are going to buy a new fruit or vegetable each week and figure out something to do with it (post your results on line to engage your friends and enlist their support). Sign up for a 10k race later in the year so that you're obliged to train for it. Or try my challenge of doing a certain number of new forms of exercise within the year - I've had a hysterical time learning swing dance, going to a morning rave, hula hooping, etc.
4. Make it measurable - Don't just say "I'm going to get healthier". What does that mean for you? How can you measure that? You could decide that you're going to get your cholesterol level down - that's measurable for sure. Or you can decide to master a particularly difficult yoga pose. Or get to the point where you can run 30 minutes without stopping. Consider what you actually need to do to achieve your goal and break it down into small, measurable steps.
5. Hook your new resolution behaviour onto an existing activity - For example if you'd like to have a tighter, more tone derriere it stands to reason that you should do more squats, more often. ugh - when and how??? Try this: every time you go to the bathroom do 10 squats before heading back about your business. Even if you only go to the toilet 5 times during the day that's 50 squats you will have done! Impressive. Research shows that we are 70% more likely to succeed with a new habit when we hook it on to an existing activity.
Wishing you the very best for 2016 - have a healthy and happy new year!