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Keeping your New Year's Resolutions

Here it is the fifth of January. Have you broken your resolutions yet? I know I have, or should I say, I never really got started. This would then be a good time to talk about a few tips to helping you keep those resolutions. Whether they are health related like losing weight, or quitting smoking, or if they are personal; like spending more time with your family, you can use the same techniques to keep at them.

The most important technique to sticking with your resolutions is simply having a partner or coach. Having somebody in your life that can keep an eye on you to both praise/reward you, or to punish you if you falter is a great way to follow through on your New Year’s resolutions. A partner is usually best, and by partner, I don’t mean your spouse, I mean someone who has the same goals as you. Just as an example, when someone quits smoking, they are three times more likely to succeed if they have someone in their social group that also quits smoking (according to the Great American Smoke Out.) Another example would be exercising. If you go to the gym with someone else and work out together, you are less likely to cheat because you know your workout buddy will be upset with you if you do. 

The next most important step to keeping your resolutions would be to set goals. If your resolution is to lose weight, that is a very open ended goal. Technically you could lose 1 pound and quit because you have fulfilled your resolution. Setting goals such as I want to lose 10 pounds by February first and then 5 pounds a month after that. Or you can set more long term goals such as I would like to lose 30 pounds by summer. I would not recommend this as if you give yourself six months; odds are you will probably not get started till month 4 and by that time you are not giving yourself enough time to meet your goal.   If you keep your goals smaller and shorter they will be easier to achieve and you will be less likely to get frustrated and quit.

So far I have really only talked about a few healthy resolutions, but let’s take the example of spending more time with your family just to show I’m not a one trick pony. Same techniques apply here; first simply start by finding your partner/coach. In this case a spouse would probably be best. Second; and I know this is going to sound funny, but if you are very busy, you must schedule blocks of time in your schedule for your wife and children. Start off by blocking off hour blocks in the morning or evening to spend with your family. Keep those same blocks of time for a week. If you find you are still able to finish your work with these hour blocks, you could try increasing them to an hour and a half, or even two. The goal here is to find the balance of work and home. Eventually you will get to the point where you no longer need to schedule your time with your family; it will just come naturally, but start by using a schedule. 

If you have a resolution that you are not sure how to go about setting your goals or finding a coach, leave me a comment or email me at my email address drrathfon@gmail.com if you want it to be more private. We can work out a plan together that will help you meet your goals. I would like to wish everybody a happy and healthy New Year and look forward to helping you all year with your health and wellness.