by Matt Weik
Other than getting together with friends and family on January 1 of each year, what else comes to mind? Probably New Year’s resolutions, right? Maybe you’re sitting around the dinner table on New Year’s Day and talking about what you want to accomplish this year, and everyone brings up one or two things. Well, health and fitness are always something that comes out of their mouths. But very few will actually follow through and succeed. Why?
In this article, we will look at nine reasons why you may fail on your New Year’s resolution. Identify these pitfalls, and you’ll be on your way to seeing the results you desire.
1. You Come Out of the Gate Running
With any New Year’s resolution, you’re probably excited and pumped up to get started. Whoa! Slow down there. Pump the brakes. Take it easy getting into your New Year’s resolution. If you jump in with both feet, you may very easily get overwhelmed and give up. Ease your way into whatever your goal is and continually work towards making changes that align with your ultimate goal for the year.
2. You Don’t Really Want to Do It
Let’s face it, most people guilt you into a New Year’s resolution. You don’t want to do it. You just begrudgingly agree to set one or follow whatever your friend or family member sets for themselves. If you don’t want to do it, just say so and don’t even try. Sure, I’d love to see you succeed this year, but only you can figure out what motivates you and what goal you want to set. No one is going to do the work for you, so make it something you truly want to achieve.
3. You Set an Unattainable Goal
Setting an unrealistic and unattainable goal only sets you up for failure from the start. Your New Year’s resolution should be something you can measure and that you can reverse engineer so that you can create an actionable plan. For example, setting a weight loss goal of 50 pounds in your first month is absolutely ridiculous (yet people make that their goal). You can only lose 1-2 pounds in a healthy manner per week, so keep that in mind when setting your goals.
4. You Don’t Track Your Progress
How do you know you’re on track with your New Year’s resolution if you aren’t tracking your progress? You don’t. Be sure that you are tracking your progress by either writing everything down with a pen and paper or using an app that you can plug in your information, and it tracks your progress for you. There are plenty of fitness apps, financial apps, health apps, nutrition apps, you name it, and there is probably an app for it.
5. You Aren’t Enjoying the Process
This circles back to what was mentioned in #2. If you really don’t like what you’re doing, you’ll quit. It’s only a matter of time. Taking things a step further, even if you want to accomplish something such as weight loss, you need to find the workouts and exercises that you enjoy. For instance, if you hate running, try swimming or cycling. Why torture yourself by doing something you hate? Find what you enjoy and can tolerate and switch it up if things get stale.
6. You Are Afraid to Ask for Help
Thinking you know everything has probably never gotten you very far in life, right? What’s so hard about asking for help? The fact that you set a goal and have a New Year’s Resolution shows that you’re not an expert at whatever your goal is, otherwise, you would have already done it. When in doubt or need help, ask for it. If you don’t ask for help, you’re only hurting yourself and stalling your progress.
7. You Aren’t Seeing the Results Fast Enough
When it comes to starting a New Year’s resolution, most people want to see the results yesterday. They’re impatient. They expect to see results immediately. And they don’t want to wait. Well, that spells disaster. Nothing worth having comes quickly. You’ll need to put in the time, dedication, and consistency in order to achieve your goals this year. Which actually segues us nicely into our next reason.
8. You Don’t Have a Consistent Schedule
If you make something a priority, what do you do? Put it in your calendar, no? Have a meeting at work? Maybe a party with friends or family? You put it in your calendar to remind you that you have somewhere important to be on a certain date and time. You need to do the same with working on your goal. If it’s getting in better shape and losing weight, put your workouts in your calendar to ensure nothing interrupts your time slot. The day can get away from you, and before you know it, time flew by, and you now don’t have time to work out due to everything else you have to get done before the end of the day if it’s not in your calendar. Moral of the story? If your New Year’s resolution is important to you, schedule it in your calendar.
9. You Slip Back into Old Habits
Creating new habits and behaviors can be difficult. If you’ve set a New Year’s resolution and find yourself slipping up and engaging in some old habits that don’t align with your goals, you need to catch yourself. For instance, if you want to lose weight, but on the way home from the gym, you’re starving and hit up the McDonald’s drive-thru, the only person you’re hurting is yourself. You need to catch yourself before you engage in old behaviors and habits. Do whatever is necessary to put yourself in a position to win. Take a different route to stay away from fast food if that’s your vice. Simply identify what doesn’t align with your New Year’s resolution and focus on building those new habits.
