Everyone “knows” that new years resolutions are meant to be given up on within two weeks of the new year. In fact, new years resolutions are often met with such scepticism and negativity that it’s a wonder the tradition still persists. But if you think about the pattern that leads to making new resolutions, it makes sense that these goals should fail most of the time.
Goals usually require 2 things to succeed:
- A high level of motivation;
- A sensible, structured plan.
Unfortunately, when we make our new year plans, we’re riding high on the spirit of the season. Motivation is so high that we don’t even bother to make plans. Why bother with planning your approach when you feel like you could just run through every obstacle in your path?
New Years Resolutions aren’t just for New Year
As I’ve written before, motivation is constantly in flux. This means that, no matter who you are, you will inevitably hit a period of low motivation. The Christmas/New Year season is so different to our usual routine that there’s no way you can maintain that level of enthusiasm all year round! So when your motivation crashes, you shouldn’t feel like you’ve failed. You DEFINITELY shouldn’t feel like your resolutions were a waste of time.
However, this inevitable crash is exactly why you need to make a plan now. This plan should help you mentally prepare for the obstacles that sit between you and your goals.
Think of goal-setting like a marriage. You can have a lovely wedding full of celebrations, partying, and teary-eyed speeches, but if you can’t handle the bad times with your partner then you won’t make it past the honeymoon.
With that in mind, here are some steps for making ironclad new years resolutions.
Step 1: Get Specific
It’s the oldest trick in the book, but one that bears repeating. When making your goals, leave no room for misinterpretation.
This means ditching these types of statements:
- “I want to get fitter.”
- “I’m going to work out more.”
- “I’d like to get in the best shape of my life.”
These statements don’t really tell us anything. What are you actually going to do? When are you going to do it? How will you measure your progress?
If you’ve found yourself making the aforementioned goals this year, then try the following instead:
- “I’m going to exercise for 20-40 minutes, 1-3 times a week.”
- “I am going to train for a 5k park run.”
- “I am going to perform 5 pushups by the end of the year.”
These goals can evolve over the year, but you need a firm starting point.
Step 2: Break the Year into Sections
A year is a long time. So long, in fact, that it’s easy to lose your way. Like any long journey, you’ll need some landmarks to help you navigate.
In 2022, my main goal was to continue to build strength, power, and fitness so that I could compete in kickboxing towards the end of the year. I was able to break my year up into the following sections:
- Jan-Feb: recovery after a hard training block at the end of 2021, and starting to build up again.
- Feb-Apr: prepare for a friendly Olympic weightlifting competition.
- Apr-May: fairly relaxed training while preparing for a 56k charity walk.
- Jun-Jul: a concentrated pullup and deadlift training block.
- Aug-Sept: specific kickboxing strength and conditioning.
- Oct-Dec: fairly relaxed strength/hypertrophy training.
Injury meant this plan faltered around September and I didn’t end up competing, but I achieved a lot of what I wanted last year based on this structure. Breaking my training up into these phases helped me stay focussed and engaged in my training.
You don’t need to have five different goals to make this work, and you don’t need to know every phase at the beginning of the year. Here’s an example for a very general “get fitter” goal:
- Jan-Mar: establish a routine. 1-3 workouts a week with classes or a personal trainer.
- Apr-Jun: build momentum. 2-4 workouts a week, with 1 workout being independent.
- July-Sept: take advantage of nice weather to run outdoors once a week instead of a gym session.
- Oct-Dec: learn a new fitness skill. Boxing, strength training, kettlebells, or something else.
Step 3: Acknowledge Your Weaknesses
As I mentioned at the start, new years resolutions are made at a time when it’s easy to write cheques you can’t cash. With that in mind, it’s crucial that you acknowledge your potential shortcomings.
Acknowledging these weaknesses is not the same as “making excuses” or “being negative”. You will inevitably hit a stumbling block in your training; if you spend all your time with your head in the sand, how can you overcome these challenges?
Here are some examples of common training obstacles and possible solutions:
- Low gym confidence – go to classes or hire a trainer.
- Get too comfy on the sofa after work – pack your gym clothes and go to a gym on the way home.
- Hate running – don’t set running goals!
- Hate dieting – don’t set extreme diet goals!
- Don’t like the gym environment – train at home, or pick other activities such as swimming or martial arts.
Refusing to acknowledge these obstacles won’t stop them from affecting your progress. It will just stop you preparing for them.
I hope you found this guide to new years resolutions useful. You can sign up for more tips like this by following this link. Alternatively, if you have time to read more, you can check out this quick post about maintaining your focus in the gym.
Pingback: The Best Shape of Your Life: Ways to Define Your Fitness in 2023