The Guide To Keeping New Years Resolutions -

Home
>
Goal Setting
>
The Guide To Keeping New Years Resolutions

The Guide To Keeping New Years Resolutions

The New Year is quickly creeping up on us. Do you have a New Year's Resolution? Well, if you're like most Americans (88 percent in 2001 according to a General Nutrition Centers poll), you have at least one resolution. And, if you are like the majority of these promise-makers, your resolution is probably related to health and fitness. In 2001 (according to GNC), 55 percent promised to eat healthier, 50 percent resolved to exercise more, and 38 percent wanted to lose weight.

While resolutions are well-intentioned, unfortunately most people fail at keeping them. With all the hype surrounding these promises, it's easy to get caught up in them without really taking them seriously.

We live in a throw-away society and even our resolutions, I'm afraid, are not immune. However, especially for promises that include improving our health it's in our best interest to not take them lightly.

So, what's the secret to successful resolutions? While you can't wave a magic wand and make your resolution come true, there are some easy steps to take to make it easier to fulfill your promise to yourself.

Choose an obtainable goal. Resolving to look like a super model is not realistic for the majority of us, but promising to include daily physical activity in our lives is very possible.
Avoid choosing a resolution that you've been unsuccessful at achieving year after year. This will only set you up for failure, frustration and disappointment. If you are still tempted to make a promise that you've made before, then try altering it. For example, instead of stating that you are going to lose 30 pounds, try promising to eat healthier and increase your weekly exercise.
Create a game plan. At the beginning of January, write a comprehensive plan. All successful businesses start with a business plan that describes their mission and specifics on how they will achieve it. Write your own personal plan and you'll be more likely to succeed as well.
Break it down and make it less intimidating. Rather than one BIG end goal, dissect it into smaller pieces. Set several smaller goals to achieve throughout the year that will help you to reach the ultimate goal. Then even if you aren't able to reach your final goal, you will have many smaller, but still significant, achievements along the way. For example, if your goal is to complete a 10K race, your smaller goals could be running a 5K in less than 30 minutes, adding upper and lower body strength training to increase your muscular endurance, and running 2 miles with a personal best completion time.
Ask friends and family members to help you so you have someone to be accountable to. Just be sure to set limits so that this doesn't backfire and become more irritating than helpful. For example, if you resolve to be more positive ask them to gently remind you when you start talking negatively.
Reward yourself with each milestone. If you've stuck with your resolution for 2 months, treat yourself to something special. But, be careful of your reward type. If you've lost 5 pounds, don't give yourself a piece of cake as an award. Instead, treat yourself to a something non-food related, like a professional massage.
Don't go it alone! Get professional assistance. Everyone needs help and sometimes a friend just isn't enough. Sometimes you need the help of a trained professional. Don't feel that seeking help is a way of copping out. Especially when it comes to fitness, research studies have shown that assistance from a fitness professional greatly improves peoples success rate.
Limit your number of promises. You'll spread yourself too thin trying to make multiple changes in your life. This will just lead to failure of all of the resolutions.

On average only about 20% of us keep our New Year's resolutions. Unfortunately, some of the biggest failures are found in fitness resolutions. But don't let the statistics get you down. By following the tips above you'll be better equipped to fall into the successful 20% category. If you need professional help with a fitness-related resolution, visit www.workoutsforyou.com for help.

About The Author

Lynn Bode is passionate about helping people get fit and healthy. She offers her personal training services online through her company, WorkoutsForYou.com. Workouts For You provides even the busiest of people affordable, personalized exercise programs for losing weight, toning-up, building muscles & increasing stamina(via the Internet). The programs can be done on their schedule and in the comfort of their own home (or gym or on-the-road). Membership includes one-on-one fitness consultation, animated exercise demos and much more. Visit www.workoutsforyou.com for a FREE fitness evaluation.

info@workoutsforyou.com

In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/41134/cid=0ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNFdBLdfi4WJQcd_evr1KRuyUCi1lAEmpXtrack Automates IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance#39;s Employee b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fNewswire Today (press release),nbsp;UKnbsp;-/font nobr6 minutes ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1b.../b leading Performance Management Software, was chosen by IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance to manage employee appraisal amp; performance bgoal setting/b processes. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://mathaba.net/news/%3Fx%3D608785cid=0ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNHJb5Mp08AEaWLlfo2w9x4tEPne5AbSetting/b up processing industries a bgoal/b of Agriculture Jihad Ministry/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMathaba.Net,nbsp;UKnbsp;-/font nobr3 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Agriculture Jihad Minister Mohammad Reza Eskandari said that bsetting/b up processing and supplementary industries is one of the objectives of Agriculture b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.universitysport.ca/e/story_detail.cfm%3Fid%3D12738cid=1257663268ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNFSct1RbWtDQz1l29oD4Vrs33B8KwCanada West weekly roundup: Battle of Alberta ends in a draw/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fRDS,nbsp;Canadanbsp;-/font nobr9 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Nothing was settled in the five minute overtime, bsetting/b the stage for Hotson#39;s shootout deciding bgoal/b. Walker and Hellyer led the way for Manitoba with two b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2008/10/11/european-worldcup.htmlcid=1257199200ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNEDGIMQq2JaBYrYc0JiOgZncHOnxwimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=3FtV4upMdpAJimgurl=www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/sports/photos/2008/10/11/england306-cp.jpg width=80 height=45 alt= border=1brfont size=-2CBC.ca/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.express.co.uk/football/view/65900/Rooney-setting-his-targetcid=1257199200ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNGHG7FbyIOzwVbyTWaJgPqmnmI_sQROONEY bSETTING/b HIS TARGET/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fUK Express,nbsp;UKnbsp;-/font nobrOct 13, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Matt Law WAYNE ROONEY wants to take on the responsibility of becoming England’s new bgoal/b machine for years to come. After almost 12 months without b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.soccer365.com/english_premiership/story_131008095600.phpcid=1257199200ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNEUOmoTWCvpr302uM75npW6vdMrigHeskey Shrugs Off bGoal/b Drought/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrSoccer365/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/late-surge-adds-sparkle-to-laboured-english-show-1496576.htmlcid=1257199200ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNHBC9I8ybIU4H9Q-wsmuhKXU1q7_ALate surge adds sparkle to laboured English show/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrIrish Independent/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport/Heskey-holds-key-as-England.4582274.jpcid=1257199200ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNGDPTBJX0OPbuWOWNiada9nC9SjsQHeskey holds key as England hunt for goals/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrScotsman/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.setantasports.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/10/11/WC-Capello-reaction/%3Ffacets/sport-space/great-britain-locale/football/cid=1257199200ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNGAQmho5gEKBs6zzcntZ2smbHruvQnobrSetanta Sports/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1257199200hl=ennobrall 1,274 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm%3Fsid%3D180019%26sc%3D99cid=1257541867ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNFOUS5VmHPasADmHWx0DPaxu2Pf0gMcInnis’ field bgoal/b lifts football Wildcats/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fCharlottetown, The Guardian,nbsp;Canadanbsp;-/font nobr9 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1With 36 seconds left, quarterback Ben McIsaac completed a 25-yard pass to McInnis to move the ball to the Wolves’ 10-yard line, bsetting/b the stage for b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20081014/GJSPORTS_01/710149851cid=1257580456ei=N6v0SNe4KabU6gP76-SaDQusg=AFQjCNHivRtIQjK6CE8ZhwXk946gFupkgwNeisbett gives Mules surprising lift/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fFoster's Daily Democrat,nbsp;NHnbsp;-/font nobr7 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Neisbett, whose first three goals came on headers, gave his teammates credit for bsetting/b him up. quot;I decided I really had to step up there,quot; said Neisbett. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

goal setting - Google News

The Guide To Keeping New Years Resolutions

Goal Setting