Well happy Tuesday! With it being finals week, the students are in major stress mode. I have to admit, I like watching them squirm as they push themselves to get their missing assignments in, make a certain grade on their finals, and talk about vacation plans.
Last Thursday, I threw a breakfast for my intervention kiddos to celebrate their hard work. It was a hit! (Note to self: When feeding teenage boys, bring more than you think you need.)
As a result of my addiction to instagram, I’ve noticed a bunch of negative memes related to making New Year’s resolutions.
While I understand the sentiments behind these seemingly angry comments, I am a very strong believer in setting goals, creating challenges for yourself, and committing to a change. I don’t see any problem doing those things at the start of a new year.
That being said, most resolutions aren’t kept. If you’re a resolution maker, I have a few ideas for how you can be successful.
1. Make it a SMART resolution. Really plan how you’re going to achieve your resolution. It should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. “I want to lose 10 pounds” should become, “I want to lose 10 pounds in the next 2 months by attending 2 group fitness classes per week, drinking a full liter of water each day, and having one day a week of no “white” food.”
2. Keep yourself accountable. Make a calendar, tell a friend, post in on social media, do whatever you have to do to make it extremely tough for you to fail your resolution.
3. Set rewards and consequences. What is the consequence if you don’t reach your SMART resolution? What is the reward if you do?
4. Check in with yourself regularly. Many people make their resolution, keep in their mind for a week or two, and then forget about it. Revisit your SMART resolution every month or two, don’t wait till June, or until the next year to see how you did.
5. Adjust as necessary. If you find during your check in that you’re not going to make your resolution a reality, adjust it. Don’t give it up, but set yourself up for success.
6. Enjoy the new year! Don’t get so caught up in resolutions that you can’t enjoy the year ahead!
Some of my resolutions?
Get outside more by taking a short walk at least every other week.
Join in the #runchat twitter parties on Sunday nights at least once a month. (Visor courtesy of Head Sweats.)
Experiment with clean recipes that are not just raw fruits and veggies at least twice a month.
Stop picking my nose when people are looking.
Oh, wait, that one’s not for me. (A good friend of mine and her family. Taken at our wedding!)
RQ: Do you set resolutions? Do you keep them? Any other suggestions for how to make them happen?
I’m Brooke Selb, a Personal Trainer and Health Coach specializing in helping busy moms and moms to be to easily juggle mom life with family friendly recipes, and easy exercise routines to help you achieve your fitness goals that fit in with your already busy life with sound nutritional advice.
This is a great post and I like your resolutions, they’re definitely attainable. I haven’t thought yet about mine so far, other than “keep running and don’t run any more months where you only run like once a week”!
That’s attainable as well!
This is all such good advice! Including the one about feeding teenage boys. I once thought three extra-large pizzas was enough to feed a 12-kid class. Wrong.
Sounds like you have some great resolutions!
I don’t really make any. This year I have a list (because I love lists!) of things that I want to try!
This is a great post… I am getting caught up in visiting with my family and haven’t sat down and focused on what I want to accomplish for the year. It sits in the back of my mind and over the last few months I’ve been jotting things down here and there. Writing goals down, sharing them (and my progress with them) on my blog, and checking in with myself regularly are all important to me.
I love how having a blog keeps me more accountable for the things I say I’m going to do.