It can be easy to set new objectives and tackle them with enthusiasm and motivation at the start of each year.
“This is my year! I’m going to get in shape, stop eating junk food, learn how to play the piano, and land on the Moon!”
Of course, setting bold goals isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As the saying goes, “Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
The problem is, keeping our New Years’ resolutions is easier said than done. Today, I’ll share four actionable tactics you can use to increase your chances of success. Let’s see what they are…
1. Set Concrete Goals
The reason why many people fail is that they set vague goals. For example, “I’m going to get in shape this year.” As a whole, that’s a great goal. But what does it mean, exactly?
Do you want to lose weight, build muscle, improve your flexibility, run a six-minute mile, or something else?
Get clear on that. For example, if you primarily care about weight loss, it could look like this:
“I want to lose 15 kilograms by June 1st of this year.” This is an example of a concrete goal. You have a clearly-defined and realistic objective, can break it down into weekly or monthly goals, and you have a deadline.
2. Create A Plan Of Action Based On Those Goals
Defining your goals is vital because you have to create a plan of action to achieve them. Without a plan, it’s mostly wishful thinking.
Let’s consider the above weight loss goal:
Depending on when you set it, you might have up to five months to achieve the goal. If you break it down into weekly objectives, it comes up to around 0.75 kilograms of weight loss per week. Based on that, you can set a clear plan. For example:
• Maintain a 600-calorie deficit • Focus on eating mostly whole and nutritious foods • Get plenty of protein (meats, chicken, dairy, etc.) • Exercise four days per week - two for cardiovascular and two for resistance training
3. Monitor Your Progress Regularly
Once you’ve gone through steps one and two, it comes down to applying the basics consistently and monitoring your progress.
Tracking how things are going is beneficial for two reasons:
First, it helps create a positive feedback loop. Seeing the progress you’ve made motivates you to keep pushing, which delivers even better results.
Second, it helps you stay on track and see how things are going each week. If your progress happens to slow down, you have actionable data and can take measures to course-correct. For example, if weight loss slows down, you can evaluate your training and nutrition and see how you might improve both processes to kickstart progress.
4. Make It Easier
We often make the mistake of swimming against the current. In other words, we make simple and straightforward things unnecessarily more complicated.
Take, for example, nutrition. When most people dedicate themselves to a goal such as weight loss, they seek a complex and challenging-to-maintain strategy, thinking that it will work better for them. The problem is, once the initial surge of motivation fades, folks often find it difficult to keep going.
Instead, you should strive to make it easier to stick with. In most cases, a simple approach works much better in the long run.
At LiveFreshr, our goal is to help make the nutritional side of fitness and health easier. All you have to do is share your preferences with us and allow us to handle everything for you.