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This year I will........


Not quite New Year yet, but I bet a lot of you have already been thinking about what you want to achieve in 2016 and have set yourself a New Year’s resolution.

That’s great and I hope you achieve your resolution and I don’t want to burst your bubble and enthusiasm but I’m sorry to say that a massive 92% of you are going to fall in a heap and fail. But I’m also equally sure that this fact comes as no surprise.

So how can you set yourself up to achieve your resolution? So the example I’m going to use is loosing 30kg. Use the SMART principle to put it into perspective.

S – SPECIFIC –

Be specific – Saying you want to loose weight means anything from 1 gram upwards. You need a specific target – in this case it’s 30kg.

M – MEASURABLE –

We can measure the progress of our New Year’s resolution and here’s the thing, 30kg is a huge target and looking at that target as a whole number is very daunting especially once your initial enthusiasm is gone.

Break it down! You have a whole year to achieve this weight loss. 30kg in a year breaks down to 2.5kg per month or just over 0.5kg per week. Sounds much better doesn’t it J

A – ATTAINABLE –

Sometimes our New Year’s resolutions can be “pie in the sky” unattainable goals. Is loosing 30kg attainable for you? (eg. Are you being hindered by something like a medical condition or pregnancy? Or maybe a 30kg loss for your already slim frame is just not going to happen)

R – REALISTIC –

Does your New Year’s resolution have a realistic timeframe and is your goal realistic

T – TIMELY

Does your New Year’s resolution have a timeframe. To say you want to loose 30kg doesn’t have a timeframe. To say you want to loose 30kg in a year gives you a timeframe.

Now there, all that sounds just fine doesn’t it. “Yep, Yep, sounds good. I can do this” I hear you say all fired up and enthusiastic. Great, that should see you through for about 2 -3 weeks after starting on your goal. Oops, there I go bursting your bubble again.

Sorry……..so now is the time you need to really dig deep into your soul and remember just why you wanted to do this in the first place. Maybe you need to remember how you felt when you truly believed you would achieve your goal….Felt great didn’t it?

Well now’s the time to harness that feeling/thought. Visualise yourself reaching that goal and how you feel being there and hold on to that feeling every time you feel like you want to give up. This is one of the things that will keep you going until you reach your goal.

Some other tips –

  • I have already mentioned that you need to break down you big goal into smaller goals. Each time you reach one of your smaller goals, (maybe you’ve reach a 5kg, 10kg, 15kg loss) CELEBRATE the little goals. Buy that new dress, piece of jewellery, have that massage, facial etc. But if it’s weight loss that’s your goal, don’t make your reward food related.

  • Make small changes. Don’t immediately deprive yourself of absolutely everything you love. You will end up hating what you are doing. You will feel deprived and will inevitably throw your hands up in the air and say “too hard”. So just make one or two changes per week. Perhaps it’s “I’ll drink 2 litres of water every day” or “I’ll cut the sugar out of my coffee”. It has to be something that you can commit to.

  • It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Yes there will be ups and downs, people sabotaging you, you sabotaging you, but what you will learn about you and the people around you will be well worth the journey. And in all probability what you learn will be life changing.

  • If you want to loose weight and keep it off, you need to realise that to make permanent change you need to change permanently. And what’s more, you need to be happy with the changes you have made.

You can go back to your old habits once you reach your goal, but in all probability you will also put that 30kg back on too.

  • Don’t beat yourself up if you slip up.

Remember, you are human, you will slip up. Just don’t let it be an avalanche back to old habits.

One meal, day or couple of days off track will not completely negate all the good things you have already achieved. Just get back on track immediately, not next Monday!

My final word on achieving your goal. Once you get there you will feel such a sense of being in control of your life. You will feel AWESOME!!!! And that’s because you are awesome!!