How To Avoid Failing Your Goals Of The New Year

“New Year, New Me!”

Is a phrase I’ve heard SO many times, I bet you have too. And how many of the people who have said it are back to being the same person within 3 months?The new year tradition is to become an entirely new person as soon as January the 1st hits, slowly returning to the person you were over the preceding couple of months.

This could be anything – a new fitness routine, quitting smoking or drinking.

A lot of this is down to the goals we set ourselves. We aim too high straight away. Although cutting things out cold turkey can work, it doesn’t always work for the majority of people. The same with fitness. Throwing yourself into a new fitness routine with goals to lose 6st by the end of February (healthily!) will most likely be a fail as well.

We often tell each other that the sky is the limit and we can do anything we set our minds to. Which of course is absolutely true, but we need to remember to set ourselves realistic goals along the way to achieve these impossible things.

By breaking down these big dreams into smaller, achievable goals we can avoid setting ourselves up to fail or to burn out too quickly.

When you first set yourself your goals you’re motivated, ready and raring to go. But over time that can wear off. The way to fix this is to break your bigger goals down into smaller, manageable goals.

So for example, instead of losing 6st by February, why not half a stone by the end of February?

Creating these smaller goals will help you to keep motivated to continue. With one large goal to achieve you can feel under pressure to get the work done and still feel like you’re getting nowhere.

Here are 3 simple questions to ask yourself when you’re setting your new goals of 2018:

1. How big is the goal?

If it cannot be achieved within less than 3 months consider that your long-term goal.

Set yourself some smaller goals to help on your road to achieving this one, ideally that can be reached within 1-2 weeks.

2. What do you need to do to achieve that goal, can you commit to it?

You need to make sure you can do everything you need to so than you can achieve your goal.

For example, if your fitness goal requires you to attend the gym 5 times a week, but other commitments mean you can actually only get there 2 days a week you need to scale back your goal. Be realistic with your time frames, taking into account how much time you can (and will!) actually commit to reaching your goals.

3. Can you honestly see yourself achieving your goal?

It’s important to be able to visualise yourself achieving your goals. If you can visualise it, your motivation will continue long after you’ve set your goals.

Be honest with yourself, if you think you’re aiming too high just scale your goal back a bit. Complete some shorter goals first before moving on to that end goal.

Most importantly…

Reward yourself. It doesn’t have to be much, but each time you reach a goal reward yourself. Maybe with a new gym outfit or your favourite meal.

Rewarding yourself is another great way to make sure you continue to achieve your goals. And don’t be afraid to amend your goals as you move forwards. Things happen and life changes, it’s not the be all and end all if you don’t quite achieve your goal within your time frame.

Happy New Year folks!

A.x