Goals v Resolutions

“My goal for 2025 is to accomplish the goals of 2024 which I should have done in 2023 because I made a promise to myself in 2022 and planned in 2021”, Sound familiar?

You create a goal. 

You create a plan to achieve the goal. 

Something outside your plan gets in your way. 

And now you’re stuck.

If you don’t reflect on the habits and actions that led to yet another unfulfilled goal, you will keep coming up short.

Wanting to change yourself and better yourself is a beautiful and inspiring thing.  And it turns out that’s also how most other people think:

• 38.5% of US adults set New Year’s resolutionsevery year.

• 59% of young adults (18-34) have New Year’s resolutions, which makes it the largest demographic that sets these goals.

• 48% want to exercise more, making it the most popular New Year’s resolution. The top 3 are all health-related.

• 23% quit in the first week, and only 36% make it past the first month.

• 9% successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions.

That is astonishing to me. I feel a resolution should be a reachable “goal,” and that is where many make the mistake: Too big, too soon, and huge expectations, but the mind and heart are in the right place.

Gyms are packed in early January.  All the new running shoes, running outfits, and eager people fill the cardio room.   This often fails because, after a couple weeks, one sees no results.   Many are eager with their new journals in which the goal is to write each day, to find what we are grateful for, we tend to start the newest health trend, start our day differently, start saving money, and contact people we have not in some time and so much more.  But the motivation of a new year wears off quickly.  

When your holiday decorations are packed up and stored away, the frustration of an unused gym membership or other reminders of failed resolutions can make the later winter months feel hopeless.  If you are in a state with true winter, some of these resolutions are even more challenging.    

Tips to achieve your goals include:

• Deeply understand why you want to change. What’s your big motivation? Why is it now necessary to change?

• Set specific and challenging long-term goals (if you feel ready).

• Consistently set small and realistic short-term goals.

• Consider an accountability partner. Is a family member or friend pursuing similar goals who wants to join you? Alternatively, find like-minded people online with the same goals.

• Improve your sleeping schedule. That includes consistent waking and bedtimes and getting plenty of quality sleep every night. It may surprise you just how much sleep impacts goal success.

However, it is important to remember that the New Year isn’t meant to catalyze sweeping character changes. It is a time for people to reflect on their past year’s behavior and promise to make positive lifestyle changes.  Use the baggage as a learning curve.  Setting small, attainable goals throughout the year, instead of a singular, overwhelming goal on January 1 can help you reach whatever you strive for. By making your resolutions realistic, there is a greater chance that you will keep them throughout the year.

Having a buddy or a support system will help you achieve your goal.  IThis year, I am adding trail running to my list along with training for another half marathon.   I am so excited about this, but realistically, I know I need a support system, therefore I have joined a running group.

Start small and every 30 days revisit your goal.  You may have to adjust your goal.  As you take steps, reward yourself and make sure you recognize that each step is a success.  I am here to help you visit your goal and I can help you readjust.

The beginning of the year is such a hopeful time.  Within a few weeks when the motivation wears off, the challenge is to stay on course.  The only way to have a different outcome is to figure out what didn’t work in the past.  Don’t repeat it.  It takes time to learn new things, so it is important to give yourself that time.  Allow yourself to have days of frustrations and days of setbacks, after all, we are only human.

Use your journal as a tracking system.  Write what didn’t work that day and on the day’s things do work, write the successes down.  Too many people see failures as a stop sign.  Failures are a learning opportunity and if you can see it as that you will not fall into the stats of not filling your resolution.

My personal goal this year is to be in the Now.  I don’t want to go back to my past, but I want to be present and enjoy what I have in front of me moving forward.  It is easy to look at failures,  mistakes, people who have done us wrong, the wrong and pain we have caused people, and the loved ones we have lost from death, which in turn puts us in a mindset of feeling worthless and in turn, a won’t be reached that day.  If we can stay present in the now and see where we are at, then our mind is in the space it needs to be in.

Know Your WHY!

Many of us make goals more important than sharing love with those around us, do both, live by our values, and appreciate what is around us.   I’ve come to learn that goals are only worth having if they can enrich our lives right now.  How we consistently experience the present will always determine the beauty of what we reap.

Becky Shaffer–Life Coach–Fitness Coach–Educator–Author

liveincofidence@gmail.com

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