The one trick you need to know before you set your New Year’s Resolutions
Who is ready for a fresh start? This year has been a doozy, to say the least, and I am beyond grateful to be starting a new year. I love the clean slate that a new year brings and I don’t know if I’ve ever needed a clean slate more than now!
I like to start thinking about my New Year’s resolutions in December. This gives me time set a goal and create a plan that will help me achieve that goal before the new year hits. Today, I want to teach you how to the right kind of goals. Goals that you can actually measure and manage so that you can accomplish them! When you use this one trick, you’ll go from setting goals that you give up on, to achieving your goals!
Traditional goals are causing you to fail
There are so many tools out there that teach you how to set a goal, but the one thing all of those tools get wrong is that they tell you to set outcome-based goals, for example, a traditional goal looks like this: “I want to lose 20 pounds.”
It sounds like a great goal, right? It’s trackable. You can set a certain amount of time to achieve that goal to make it more precise if you want. But, in reality, you can’t control how your body reacts to food and exercise, you can’t control your fat cells! You can work your butt off and still not lose all 20 of the pounds you set out to. You can’t control the outcome, which is why outcome-based goals don’t actually work!
What can you control? Your behaviors. You can control the food you put in your body. You can control how often you workout. If you want to set new year’s resolutions that you can actually reach, then you have to set behavior-based goals!
Behavioral goals will set you up for success
If you’re used to setting outcome-based goals, then setting behavioral goals might feel weird, and will take some reframing. You have to think backward from the outcome you want and set goals based on what it takes to get there.
Let’s take our previous example, say you want to lose 20 pounds, what do you need to do to accomplish that? Maybe you need to eat healthier. Or maybe you need to exercise regularly. Here are a few behavioral-based goals you could set:
I am going to eat protein at every meal.
I am going to workout for 30 mins, 5 days a week.
When you set behavioral goals instead of outcome goals, you’re in control of the results. If you set a goal to workout five days a week and you don’t achieve it, you can go back and see what got in your way. Maybe you slept in one day. That’s something you can fix next week. However, if you were trying to lose 2 pounds that week and you didn’t accomplish it, it’s hard to track down the exact reason you “failed.”
Once you’ve set your behavioral goals, you need a plan that will help you accomplish those goals. Success is going to be dependent on sticking to your plan.
Obviously, your plan is going to be specific to your goal. However, there are two excuses that I hear mamas use all the time as to why they haven’t accomplished their goals.
The first excuse is that they don’t have the time. Mama, I get this. I am insanely busy, as I’m sure you are too, but there is always time to do the things that are important to us. When you say, “I don’t have time to make a meal plan” or “I don’t have time to workout” what you’re actually saying is, “My health isn’t a priority for me.” Next time you want to say “I don’t have time” replace it with “This isn’t a priority to me” and see how that changes your attitude!
The second excuse I hear from mamas is “I can’t afford it.” Now, there is a difference between not being able to afford a coaching program or putting food on your table and not spending money on yourself so your kids can have another toy or go on another vacation. When you prioritize other people’s pleasure over your health you’re doing a disservice to your family. Do you know what your family needs more than a trip to Disney Land? They need a healthy, happy mom. Your needs are more important than your family’s wants. Next time you say, “I can’t afford it” I want you to ask yourself if you are taking care of your needs. I also want to give you permission to invest in yourself! When you invest in yourself, you’ll find that it pays dividends you never expected.
If you want help setting some health goals for 2021, then schedule a free discovery call with me! I can help you find the right program to reach your goals and live a healthy life forever!
