Well here we are- another year. So were you one of the people on Dec 31st or Jan 1st who decided to start up a new year’s resolution? Might be that you want to lose weight, give up sugar, stop smoking, stop drinking, new job, more money or just cutting out negative people in your life. Whatever it is, you made a decision to do something about your life. I am curious, as to -firstly why you have waited until either of these 2 dates to make these changes?
One thing I get curious about is why people wait until the end of the year to change or do something new? It is to justify your habits towards the end of the year and over do it knowing that you are about to “give up” or “change” them? For example are you going to overeat, over drink alcohol or smoke more knowing the fact that it is going stop within weeks as you have told yourself New Year, New Me!! Firstly why are you putting the pressure of a date to change and secondly what happens if you fail in the first week given the sudden change in your lifestyle and the challenge of keeping it up.
Sounds crazy but it does happen as personally I have done this and talking to clients they have admitted to doing this in the past as well.
So what happens if it comes to the 3rd or 4h day of the month and you have “broken” your resolution? Are you going to say “Well at least I gave it a go” Maybe next year I will have better luck” or “I’m ok with how it went and will just continue as per normal?” Or lastly “I HAVE FAILED” Whatever way you language it, it may be right for you. I just want to point out, you have not failed at it BUT if you can give yourself feedback this is a great start.
Personally I don’t agree with New Years resolutions, ‘new year new me’ crap. What I have seen work, is that you start to look at forming new habits. Now let’s take one of the most popular resolutions “I want to lose weight” So when you wake up on the 1st how is this going to look? Have you planned out something to begin on this day? Have you got things in place to achieve it? I have seen time after time that people have great intentions to improve on their health and look at losing weight but seem to give up as fast as they started.
It all comes down to changing habits. Yes, have your end goal in mind but what are you going to change in order to get there. It might be that you introduce something into your lifestyle or replace or remove something. One of the best advice I can give you is to focus on one thing 100%- then to focus on multi things and give it 50% 25% or 10%. Now I am not saying that changing multi things won’t work but remember, you are trying to make lifestyle changes to things that you have been doing for years and something just don’t switch off overnight.
So be ok to take one thing at a time. It might be to track your daily steps and hit 10000, to give 7-8 sleep a day or to drink 2 litres of water per day. Once you have change one thing and are consistent with it, then tick it off and start the next one but keep the one you have nailed going.
Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day and it had taken planning and time. So just make changes to the habits that are drawing you back and make new ones. When I lost my 28kg in my 20’s I just focused on one thing. The first thing was to change some food habits. Then once I felt more comfortable with this I introduced exercise. I knew what I wanted to achieve but just kept going. Did I fall a few times? Absolutely but the drive was there to make the change so I just look at different ways. I say to clients or people who ask me that they need me motivate them. I am not here to motivate anyone as if they are looking at making a change then they have motivated themselves with the thought. I am here to educate you and to work together on something that is going to work for you.
So don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t stuck to your new year resolution as you are not the first and won’t be the last. BUT look at NEW HABITS and be patient and consistent with the changes you are making. I promise you you will have a much higher chance of achieve you goals. This can be applied in all parts of your health, fitness and mental health.
Johnny Musumeci
Wellness Coach | Aspire Boxing Health & Fitness