Exercise more. Eat healthier. Spend more time with family. In making New Year’s resolutions, our intentions are always to follow through in order to better ourselves. However, what seems to happen 99% of the time is that we fall short of our grandiose ideas of what we can accomplish. The truth is, we are completely able to resolve to do better and actually do it. But it is also possible that while we are adults we need to continue to take baby steps when it comes to New Year’s resolutions. Our resolution strides must be shorter before we try running.
Two months after we made our initial resolutions, how can we start over again? There is no magic to starting resolutions on January 1st. You can begin on February 25th, or May 9th, or October 12th just the same. The question is not whether we can start on a different date, but whether we can follow through with a better outcome than our original attempt. So much of our learning is converting our failure into success. How can we recommit to our resolutions with a different result?
Admit
Admitting goes beyond acknowledging that you slipped up or failed. You also need to admit that the goals you set were too high. It is not that you are unable to accomplish such goals but the steps to get there were too ginormous. We tell ourselves that we can go from eating a loaf of bread a day to we will never touch bread again in a 24 hour span. We tell ourselves we can go from sitting on the couch to running a marathon in less than a month.
Admit that you thought you were Wonder Woman when you’re just a super mom! Meeting goals often requires more time than we originally thought. Realistic goals must be set. Admit that unrealistic goals were never really attainable as quickly as you wanted to accomplish them. Your admission immediately will lower the bar to something you can accomplish here and now so that six months from now you can only eat a burger once a week, or you can run a 5k in under 30 minutes, or you can have a family meal together five days a week.
Adjust
Along with admitting that you set your goals too high, you must adjust to reachable goals. Adjusting includes modifying your schedule, your steps, and your attitude toward your goals. In order to make progress toward your goals, adjustments in life must be made. Those adjustments do not need to be 0-60 in one second. They need to be small enough that they do not add unnecessary stress to your everyday life. Adjust your diet to not eat as much sugar each day instead of eliminating sugar all together. Limit your amount of sedentary time by taking a 10 minute walk or jog each morning or night. Make minor adjustments to your schedule to ensure there is time with your spouse and kids.
Think about how big of a change minor adjustments make in reaching the bigger goals we have set. If you seek out ways to save money by evaluating your budget, you may come out with little adjustments that have a huge impact. Instead of going to Starbucks every morning, you may start brewing coffee at home. You end up saving a couple of dollars each day, but by the end of the year that is $730 you saved just by that one small adjustment. The same is true of our healthy habits. Small adjustments lead to bigger and bigger results. Small adjustment followed by small adjustment leads to a year of big adjustment.
Act
Once you have adjusted to set reachable goals, you must act. Attaining goals requires doing something. The plan for baby steps is now in place and you must take those baby steps. Oftentimes, we set realistic goals and then we say to ourselves, “I’ll start tomorrow.” Does this sound familiar? Yes, the truth is, there is always a tomorrow. But here is another truth, there is always a today!
Take that 10 minute walk or jog and see how many days you can keep the streak alive. When offered a healthier meal alternative, order it. When you are at home with your family, put down your electronic devices and talk to one another or play a game together. Take Action! This might be the most crucial step because without it, nothing happens. Recommit to growing and improving no matter the time of the year. Otherwise, New Year’s resolutions just become a failure that we are ashamed of at the start of every year. Instead of thinking about what could have been, make it what is happening now.
