Transform your New Year resolution into a goal.
As each new year passes, many people take the opportunity to publicly brand themselves ‘new’. But what does this really mean? Are they changing jobs? Changing relationships? Changing lifestyles? In extreme cases, it might be all of the above. But why does it take a brand new year to bring about this change? Why can’t it be any day?
This year lets try something completely different. We’re good at saying that we’re going to build those rock hard abs, or get the summer body we’ve always wanted. But we’re not so good at the process of setting about HOW to do those things. This is where we can try something different.
Rather than saying, “I’m going to have the bikini body I’ve always wanted!” Let’s trying setting a blueprint. This way, we’re setting a New Years Goal, rather than a New Years Resolution. A goal is so much easier to attack than a resolution. A resolution is the end game, but a goal is the process or blueprint.
So what does it look like? Remember we’re scrapping the “I’m going to have a bikini body!” idea, and in its place will be, “I will complete 50 sit-ups 4 days each week!” This way, your focus is on the ‘doing’ aspect, rather than just an endgame with no idea how to get there.
It seems like simple semantics, but it gives your psyche something to grasp and put into action.
So what are the next steps?
Like we said before, we’re really good at naming the resolution, or the things we want. So get a pen and paper, and start there. (This is another tip because writing it down makes it that much more tangible.) Write down the thing that you want most for yourself in 2016. Being in the On community, it might be to run that 10k, half marathon, or even full marathon. So this is the end game, now how do we get there? Write down the commitment that you’ll make, such as each week I’ll add 1km extra to my long run, or, I will add a track session to my weekly schedule. This way, after a month of training, you’ve run at least an extra four kilometres in your long run, or, you built the foundations of speed into your training.
I guarantee you that changing your mindset into a goal process rather than a resolution process will pay huge dividends. We are so often disappointed when six months into a new year we still haven’t got our rock hard abs or bikini body. That’s because we didn’t commit ourselves to a solid goal. An endgame thought can become very hazy at times, but a goal such as those listed above are very clear and non-ambiguous.
So what are you waiting for? The new year has only just begun. Why not take advantage of that excitement and begin your 2016 goal journey today. You may have already set a new year resolution, but now you have the strategy to transform it into a new year goal. Do it now, and you’ll thank yourself later.
By Liam Bromilow.
