How To Stick With Your New Goals

With the new year fast approaching, we’ll all be making resolutions. Personal goals. Professional goals. Implementing good habits or breaking bad habits. Statistics, however, indicate that we abandon more of our goals than we achieve. Rather than relying on the statistics, let’s reflect internally and determine why past goals may have failed and while others succeeded.

As we move through 2019, let’s make a goal to end the year better than we began. That’s a goal worth sticking to!

Here are a few tips on how to make that happen.

Think small

Day-to-day challenges are simpler to tackle than lofty goals that feel unreachable. When you lay down at night tell yourself, tomorrow I’m going for a run. Set your alarm, put your running shoes and gear close by, have your water bottle prefilled and by the front door. Then do it.

When we over-think, over-plan, or over-dream about what life will be like “once I arrive,” we miss the small victories along the way. We are also in danger of overworking ourselves in the beginning. By jumping in full-throttle, we risk injury and burn out.  

Be optimistic

If you approach your goals with an exit strategy, then you won’t succeed.

For instance, if you lay down at night and say, “when I get up in the morning, I’ll go for a run, but if I sleep late I can always run during my lunch break,” chances are you won’t run tomorrow. You’ve already put in an escape plan. Chances are probable that come lunchtime, you’ll say, “I have a lot of work to finish up, I’ll run tonight.” And the pattern continues.

Instead be optimistic!

Focus on the positive. Talk yourself up for that run. Look forward to it. Think of all the reasons you want to run, and the reward that awaits you at the end.

Be adaptable

Life changes. Nothing today is the same as yesterday. Babysitters cancel, work calls asking for a double shift, injuries happen, dinner burns, life happens. None of these circumstances need to derail you in your goals. Instead, you simply have to find new paths to achieve your goal.

Babysitter cancels or your husband is working late, take the kids on a run with you.

Working late, find excuses to move around. Take the stairs or volunteer to make rounds.

An injury doesn’t always mean you have to quit. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may need to walk instead of run. If the injury was due to overextending yourself, then examine your workout routine to determine where you may be overdoing it and cut back accordingly.

Examine your gear, purchase better running shoes, and invest in compression socks. Compression socks help the foot to remain stable by providing additional support. They also boost blood flow to the tissue and reduce inflammation. Better gear means a more comfortable run with fewer injuries. And a better chance of achieving your new year’s goals!

Have you set any new goals for 2019?