Don't Wait for the New Year
Don't Wait for the New Year
By Shane Sauer
Ten more days until the calendar turns over and the New Year begins. Have you decided what your resolution is going to be? Are you excited about the potential or are you not even going to bother this time around?
Every year, so many of us start the new year with the good intention of changing our lives in a dramatic fashion. And every year, the majority of us fall flat before the first week it out. This can be seen in gyms across the country. There’s a huge influx of new members in the first few weeks of January. The building is packed and there are lines for the exercise machines. The members who have been around for years know to head on vacation at this time because after they return, the gym will be back to normal again.
To help you avoid this annual tradition of big expectations and equally large failures, here are a couple of suggestions that I am going to follow this time around:
Dream Big, Act Small – The change you want to create should be motivating to you and have an emotional pull. It should start as a grand idea that gets you excited. But once you have the grand idea, take a step back and look at what it might take to get there. Break it down and identify the little things that will start you on that course. For example, if you want to lose 50 pounds, this could be broken down into losing one pound each week. That’s a much more manageable step.
Be in Control – The little things you choose to act on should be things within your control. In the previous example, losing a pound per week is less daunting than losing 50 pounds, but it’s not entirely within your control. Instead, consider creating a habit of adding an extra day per week at the gym or to avoid eating dessert during after dinner.
Start Over – If things don’t go right today, just start again tomorrow. Even when we’ve chosen small habits that are in our control, life still happens. On the days this happens to you, don’t worry about it, just make the effort to start over again the next day. Clean Slate!
Don’t Wait – Every day gives us an opportunity for a new beginning. You don’t have to wait for the new year. There’s no need to procrastinate until a special date, generating stress and anxiety about the day. Get started now!
My resolution this year is to reach out to more people so I can help them become healthy enough to live the life they want to lead through diet, exercise or education. It’s a big goal and gets me excited, but it is pretty daunting too. So, I’m breaking it down and working on expanding my social media footprint. One of my first steps on that path is to start a blog and by posting this, I’m not waiting until the new year!