On the 1st of January last year I had nothing in the way of resolutions. Loathed to come up with a new list of the usual suspects; lose weight, drink less, excercise more, I thought sod it! No resolutions. That's my New Years resolution!
Basking in the freedom enjoyed by commitment phobes the world over, I was powering through January evenings one glass of wine at a time...ok maybe 2 glasses on some evenings. The cold evenings and dark mornings did not tempt me out for a run or even the short journey to the gym. By April I was blaming an easter chocolate fest for the fact that my body was not summer or (God forbid) beach ready. Alas, more wine was consumed. Right through the summer, accompanied by much sucking in.
This year I'm genuinely committed to being better and doing better. I want a better relationship with alcohol and fitness. I want to de-clutter or revive 3 areas of the house. My wardrobe, the porch and my toddler's room will all receive the Anthea Turner treatment. Pinterest here I come!
The challenge however, is not in coming up with resolutions, it's in keeping them. So why have my previous attempts ended in before the finish line? I think it's all down to 2 simple facts:
• The goal was epic and therefore felt unachievable even before I had a go
• I failed to define how I would achieve my goal
Taking weight loss as an example, I knew I needed to lose a stone, so that was the goal but I hadn't given sufficient thought as to how. I thought I could go to the gym two or three times a week and cut down on my sugar in take. My under - developed plan didn't work ofcourse. I believe this was because not having thought things through, I somehow forgot that wine consumption is a factor and if actual weight loss is to be achieved perhaps more than a couple of gym sessions a week would help. I would also lose interest because there were no short term goals to spur me on on bad days. I didn't do a weekly weigh in, I didn't measure inch loss, I didn't know how many calories were burnt per work out session. If I knew all this stuff and took the opportunity to review and evaluate my progress I may have been more keen to outdo myself or atleast achieve as much I did during the last work out.
So as I set my New Year's resolutions for 2015, I plan to have achievable goals with weekly or monthly milestones and progress checks to keep me on track and maintain interest. I do this with hope that I can confidently tick these off over the next 11 months. My resolution for 2015 are:
1. Lose a stone
2. De-clutter my wardrobe
3. Give the porch a makeover
4. Re - arrange my toddlers room
What are your New Years resolutions? How will you stop yourself giving up and how will you maintain motivation?
