Welcome 2025!
We are one week into 2025. Maybe you are like me and just getting started. I took a longer-than-usual break from work at the end of December, and it continued into early January. Or perhaps you marched right through the holiday season with your normal work demands. Wherever you find yourself at this point, it is time to say “Hello” to 2025. A new year brings new opportunities. How do you plan to embrace them?
New Year, New You – This slogan has been around for a while and refers to personal transformation in an area(s) of your life where you want to make change. These are usually big goals that you have perhaps tried in the past and failed. These are often the New Year’s resolutions shelved by February 15th. Why do these goals fail? First, the goal might not be realistic. For example, you set a goal to lose 25 pounds by July 1st by going to the gym 6 days a week for one hour even though you are headed into a busy season at work requiring longer hours. The first thing to go is your commitment to the gym. There is only so much time in the day. Second, your big goal may not be sustainable in the long run. With the same example, maybe you do have time to work out at the gym 6 days a week for an hour. In the beginning, it is fun but as time progresses, the routine becomes boring, your motivation lags, and you drop down to 3 days a week for 45 minutes. This lower level of activity causes you to fall short of your weight loss goal. So, what should you do?
Smaller Steps can Lead to Bigger Gains – Instead of transformation, think improvement. “New Year, Improved Me.” Maybe your transformational goal is to eliminate all unnecessary screen time, and this works for 7 days then you give up. As an alternative, an improvement goal would be reducing unnecessary screen time by one hour per day and sustaining this for 30 days. You are likely to be successful because this goal is possible. At the end of 30 days, you have established a new habit and now have 30 hours for another purpose. A small change leads to a big gain.
What gets Measured, Gets Done – Yes! This makes complete sense, but how often do we not do this, or start doing it, then stop? If your goal is to drop your weight by 1 pound a week then you need to weigh yourself more than once a week and keep track (I would suggest writing down) of your weight each time. By doing this, you can adjust your diet and movement to stay on track. If your goal is to eat a healthier diet, plan your meals and then measure what you eat against that plan. You can do this by keeping a food journal. If your goal is to drink more water, use a drink container that measures content and record how many times you drink in the day.
As a life and business coach, I know all about goal setting, action planning, and accountability but not everyone does. If you want to explore my services to help you be successful in 2025, book a free 45-minute discovery session via my website.
I am cheering you on for a successful 2025 no matter what your goals!