Nail Your New Year’s Resolutions
After the roller-coaster that was the year of 2020, plenty of us are looking forward to a year with bigger, better possibilities.
Each year, we make New Year’s resolutions promising to transform into the best version of ourselves.
NEWSFLASH: turning a new page on the calendar is way easier than kicking old habits.
Keep reading to learn how I made lifestyle changes that stuck for good!
Who’s in charge?
When setting your goals, it’s essential to consider who is driving this change. If this resolution is influenced by a friend, significant other, or family member… you won’t be successful without self-motivation.
When you are truly accountable to yourself, you can develop a vision for your future, and build a plan that will get you there.
My take: I spent years considering how I wanted others to think of me. Whether it was wanting to wear clothes to fit the newest trend or going out to parties so I appeared more popular. Ultimately, I never felt comfortable in my own skin because I was constantly trying to please others.
This changed when I spent deliberate time with myself and the mirror. I evaluated the parts of myself I genuinely liked, and the parts of myself that I disliked. I loved training jiu jitsu–it made me feel strong and the strategic aspect of the sport challenged my mind. But I spent every single day exhausted, lethargic, unable to enjoy the activities I loved so much because I had destructive habits. Ordering takeout, binge-eating after workouts, shutting myself in my room to sleep instead of going to practice. When I decided I wanted to feel like an athlete, my journey began.
Small changes = BIG results.
You have spent a lifetime getting to the person you are today. While extreme makeovers make for exciting TV, expecting yourself to behave in a completely different way is unrealistic–and a recipe for burnout.
My take: When I started running for fitness, I thought back to my high-school days when I could run 2 miles on the track just as a warmup. But now, I was starting completely from scratch. It was a wake-up call, but I started small. Like, bite-size.
My first day was probably a half-mile distance total, and probably just HALF of that was actually at a jogging pace. I pretty much walked every time my breath got heavy. After about 2 weeks, I was getting closer to jogging the full half-mile without stops, but slo-o-o-o-owly. Even though I felt like I was just shuffling along, I began noticing improvement every couple weeks. Before long, I picked it up to a mile with a few walking breaks, then tried picking up the pace, then increasing the distance, and so on.
SIX MONTHS after taking up running, I entered in a 10-mile road race with my friend, and with a few walking breaks, we FINISHED. The longest distance I’ve gone, ever! I previously said I wouldn’t be caught dead running anywhere. The key to sticking with this routine was a lot of patience. If I had gotten started thinking I would run 10 miles straight, I don’t think I ever would have laced up my running shoes again.
This is NOT a drill.
Want to see a transformation? You won’t be impressed if you revert to old behaviors once you start seeing progress. That’s because this process requires letting go of destructive habits and replacing them with positive ones. That means you don’t get a ‘trial’ period. These new habits are for life–and that’s why it’s crucial to make them habits you want to live with!
My take: Once upon a time, I was waking up at 5AM for personal training sessions at the gym. While I was feeling super pumped about how dedicated I was to training… I was SO DRAINED. That schedule was completely incompatible with my lifestyle; with a 9-5 job and BJJ class at night, it left me with no spare time for relaxation or entertainment. By the time the weekends rolled around, I was cooped up in bed all day after burning myself out during the week. So I quit.
Now, I’ve found the genius solution of lunch-time workouts to break up the day, and I no longer hate my alarm clock so much.
How’s it going?
If there is any strength I had going into the business of self-improvement, it’s tracking & planning. I’m a HUGE believer in documenting the process, because it helps you stay honest, visualize your success, and reaffirms your commitment to your goal.
Whether it’s a daily to-do pad, a reminder on your phone, or a dedicated app: you need to check in on your progress. If you’re on track to your goal, keep going! If you’re regressing, time to change up your strategy. The path won’t always be a straight line!
My take: I have a few go-to apps on my phone that I check in on daily, including my calendar & notepad. There are so many free tools that can help you stay organized as you keep pushing forward! Two of my favorites:
- Airtable: This productivity website & app lets you make user-friendly databases and spreadsheets from scratch, or choose from one of dozens of templates. I love using this to track long-term and short-term goals and check off my accomplishments.
- MyFitnessPal: Easily track meals & workouts in your daily diary entry. You can also add friends & track together!
No such thing as ‘naughty’.
We have got to STOP punishing ourselves! Straying off your meal plan for the day or skipping a workout is not the end of your journey. It’s not even a roadblock! What is most important is to make positive choices MORE often. That’s why I stopped calling donuts my guilty pleasure. There’s nothing guilty about it! A donut won’t undo all my hard work, so there’s no need to self-sabotage if you have a less-than-perfect day. You’re not back at square one.
My take: I have a problem with disordered eating. I struggled with it most of my life, recovered from bulimia, and more recently managing continued patterns of binge-eating paired with over-exercise. It took years of therapy to heal myself from a mental standpoint, and to this day it is a daily, mindful practice. I still have days where I binge. What was an amazing turning point for me was when I discovered the ability to stop myself mid-binge and address it head-on.
The thoughts that used to go through my head when I had an indulgent dessert… ‘might as well finish it all off, I’ve already started!’, or ‘today’s just a bad day, I’ll be better tomorrow’. That mindset was trapping me into this black-and-white notion that eating certain types of foods made me a bad person and that I should be ashamed. That shame sent me in a spiral where I said, ‘screw it’ and kept self-destructing.
The way I look at it now? Hell yes I’ll have a donut, even make it two. I spend every day eating mostly whole foods & nutritious meals–why pass up an opportunity for sprinkles?
Why wait?
There is no hard & fast rule that you have to wait until January 1 to start changing your habits for the better. In fact, having that momentum before you hit that fated day could be just what you need to keep you on the right track.
My take: While midnight of the New Year is symbolic for everyone, I can’t recommend enough to get your goals started as soon as today! Once you’ve followed these steps to develop a plan of attack, I can promise you that the sooner you commit to change, the sooner you will see yourself becoming that person of your dreams. And by the time we reach January 1, you might even have some accomplishments already!
Let’s rock this new year!
What are your New Year’s resolutions for 2021? Do you have a plan to improve in a certain area of life or explore positive change?
