Achieve your New Year resolution
Each year millions of people set their New Year's resolution. The most popular New Year's resolutions are:
- Lose weight
- Get fit
- Stop smoking
- Reduce the level of alcohol consumed
- Better work / life balance
In order to achieve your New Year's resolution, whether it is stopping smoking or getting fit, their are some key factors that will see you trying and failing or trying and succeeding. These factors include, telling people, writing them down, changing your habits and goal setting for the write reasons.
We will look at each factor in turn and where ever possible relate it to the popular New Year's resolutions highlighted.
Tell people about your resolution
Telling people about your New Year's resolution serves two main purposes.
- A problem shared is a problem halved
- They may have the same goal
Telling friends and family about your goal should give you extra support from the people who knoe you best. When things become tough - when you reach for a cigarette or you don't feel like going to the gym - your friends and family can gee you up and add extra support to your will power and resolve.
Write down your goals
Committing your New Year's resolutions to paper centres your focus at the time and also allows you to place the paper in a prominant place - the fridge door is always a favourite for those looking to lose weight.
Sitting down and writing down your New Year's resolutions takes a little bit of time and more effort and commitment than just airing your resolutions 5 minutes before the clock strikes 12 am on 31st December. Writing down your goals will also test whether you actually want to achieve the said goals as writing things down subconsciously makes things more official, something which will serve you well when things get tough.
Changing your habits
If you want to stop smoking but you always start the day with a coffee and a fag then change this habit by drinking fruit juice on the go rather than sitting down to drink and smoke. Or if you cap off a lunch-time break with a cigarette then after lunch go for a walk around the block rather than standing and smoking.
Alternatively, if you find that the gym is the last place you want to visit after work, either go before work, find a health club near work so you can go at lunch time or take your kit to work and instead of heading straight home after work, take a detour and go straight to the gym after work.
Reducing alcohol consumption may mean drinking light beers or swapping every other alcoholic drink for a soft drink on a night out.
Goal setting for you
People who achieve their goals usually do so for themselves rather than other people. So if your partner wants you to give up smoking or they have *tactfully* suggested you may need to lose a few extra pounds, the likelihood is 'your' goal is doomed to fail before it's started.
Aim to create a New Year's resolution based on your own goals rather than someone else's suggestions. This way when things get tough you are more likely to visit your resolve and dig deep to give that little extra percent needed to achieve your goals.
Seek the advice of an expert
There are any experts available to you when looking to change your habits. For example, if you're looking to stop smoking the NHS has a Smoking Helpline number and web site to help people looking to quit.
The NHS Smoking Helpline number is 0800 0665 826 and the NHS smoke free web site is www.nhs.uk/smokefree.
Or if your goal is fitness then visit a gym and seek the help of a personal trainer or if you donlt fancy joing a gym use FitnessVenues.com to find out why hiring a personal trainer is useful and where to find a local personal trainer in your area.
Similarly, if you are looking to lose weight then either visit a dietitian or alternatively join an online weight loss web site, which allow you to track your calories and adjust your eating habits accordingly to lose weight safely and effectively. Some excellent examples of online weight loss programmes can be found at the Diet Planners area of FitnessVenues.com
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