Happy (Almost) New Year! It’s hard to believe it‘a just two days from now. First off give yourself a pat on the back for almost making it through 2020! it was a tough year to say the least, and with strength you got through it. If you ended up not meeting your goals by the end of the year that is perfectly OKAY, and I promise you are not alone! The beauty of the new year is it’s a fresh start, and for many of us this can drive our motivation enough to set new goals to support our health and well-being. Now it’s not enough to just set goals, but we have to come up with a realistic plan and find a way to sustain our motivation throughout the rest of the year. This can be challenging because even though it’s a new year we often still have busy schedules; stressors; barriers to break down; life changes; etc. However, if we set our goals the right way we are more likely to stay consistent and actually meet them. Here are a few tips to support you with realistic goal setting for this new year.
Set a Vision: First think long term goals for your health. An example might be: In 6 months to a year from now I will be down 20 pounds and my cholesterol will be improved which will support me with living a longer and better quality of life where I can be around for my Grandchildren. Once you have set a vision for yourself consider jotting this down, and putting it somewhere where you will see it daily. This reminder can help with sparking that motivation again if it starts to dwindle later down the road.
Set SMART goals: SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. These are the smaller more realistic goals that will support you with meeting your long term goals or vision. An example of a SMART goal would be: Over the next 4-6 weeks I will walk for 30 minutes 3xs/week. I will do this on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:00 right after work.