How often have you made a New Year's resolution and then realized a few days later: "Oh boy, I just broke that resolution?"
I know I'm guilty of that. I'll make a resolution of going to the gym, , five times a week every morning. Then morning comes and I'll tell myself, nighttime will be less crowded. But then, nighttime comes and I'm too busy to go. So, I maybe get to the gym two times a week.
Bad habits are hard to break - they say it takes three weeks to get rid of a bad habit and replace it with a good one. There are years I haven't made resolutions because I'm afraid the goal will be too hard to follow through on.
This year, I interviewed life and business coach, , who is also a Patch blogger. He had some interesting thoughts as to why people don't meet their goals:
- Most people shoot for the moon.
- They keep them to themselves.
- They are not serious about them - too flippant.
- They don't build in triggers when they forget or stop.
- They really don't want it — they are shooting at the wrong target.
You need to advertise your goals, Gee said. "Tell everyone you know. Tweet about it," he said, adding the more people who know, the more reason you can't stop moving forward with your goal.
It's OK to make a "big resolution," but you should set up small steps to get there, Gee said. "Do you need to lose 100 pounds? Shoot for 1-2 pounds this week," he said.
Gee also said you should write down your feelings and progress on the way.
Build whatever the goal is into your schedule, he said. If you have to workout, educate yourself, spend more time with the kids — it should be sacrosanct like work, Gee said.
As for me, armed with Gee's tips and an exercise machine I ordered with points from a credit card, there should be no excuses this year.
Happy New Year everyone!
