A Happy New Year's Cliche

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  • What is one thing you would do if you knew you could not fail?
  • If you had a magic wand and could change anything...
  • A genie is able to grant you one wish...
  • If you woke in the morning and a miracle had occurred, what would it be?
It's the beginning of a New Year.  One of my least favorite things about this time of year is all the cliche saying floating about, see above for a couple more :-)  I usually try to avoid these types of questions and conversations because those asking the question (most of the time) mainly just want you to hear their answer, not the other way around.  But it is still important for us to examine these questions quietly in our minds or in a conversation with a close friend.  If we take them seriously 2013 could be a real turning point in our lives.

I used to not believe in making resolutions, simply because I hate the feeling I get when I don't live up to them!  What that comes down to is me, putting too much pressure on myself to live up to some unattainable standard.  Or my goals were simply too vague, lacking much needed specifics.

To avoid the New Years resolution let downs follow these simple tips:
  1. Break your goals into small manageable pieces.  Instead of saying "I resolve to loose 50 lbs," try something like, "I resolve to loose 1 lb a week."  This way, we can meet our goals gradually and the weekly "wins" will provide motivation and momentum.  
  2. Start small.  If you want to be working out 5 days a week but currently can't locate your gym pass, it's likely you wont be able to get yourself to the gym everyday (I still struggle getting all my planned runs in every week).  So, start small, 2 days a week to start with.  When you feel like that is no big deal, move it up to 3 days a week.  Or You can even say, "In March I will start going to the gym 3 days a week, then June 4 days a week..."  Going from nothing to that ideal overnight is really hard to do.  You might find yourself putting a lot of pressure on yourself which leads to feeling overwhelmed, to disappointment, and eventually giving up.
  3. Believe in yourself! Be your biggest cheerleader.  If you find that you are feeling overwhelmed and disappointed, simply reassess your goals.  You might be trying to do too much too quick.
  4. Expect the failure.  We are going to slip up, it really is inevitable.  Knowing it will happen at some point will make it easier to live with yourself after it happens.  Just own it, and move on.
  5. Avoid haters! I want to dedicate a post on how to identify and avoid haters in the future but for now just avoid those who do not put positive into your life.  If they doubt you and make subtle remarks about your slow progress, just ignore them and move on.  They really aren't worth the time of day.
So after reassessing your goals or resolutions in comparison to the above five tips, what do you resolve for 2013?


2 comments:

  1. This is all really good advice. I like the simple approach.

    A good way to be your own biggest cheerleader is to keep track of your workouts. If you're in a funk you can go back and look at your past successes for motivation. That's a great thing about endomondo. The other day I went back and looked at some of my better workouts and the comments and pep talks. Really motivated me for my run Friday night.

    As far as the haters go, I would dismiss them, but not before taking a few minutes to see if there is any truth to what they're saying. There usually isn't but it doesn't hurt to assess from another perspective once in a while. They can be used as motivation too - man I want to prove them wrong!

    Keep up the good work!

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  2. Endomondo is such a great tool for runners, bikers etc. It's really fun to be a cheerleader for others and, like you said, it makes it easy to be a cheerleader for yourself because once you see progress, its easy to shoot for more!

    Good advice in examining the words of those who seem to be talking down to you. Being able to do that in a way where you don't take it personally is a good quality that will serve you well.

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