Don’t Give Up!
Have you heard the term “Quitters Day?” It is the second Friday of January and marks the day most people have given up on their New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you are a quitter, but you don’t need to stay one. You can restart your New Year’s resolution and be successful. Here’s how.
Revisit Your Goal – With pen and paper, write down the resolutions you made at the beginning of January and your reasons for making them. Is the goal still important? Maybe one of your goals was to learn a new language in 2025 but as you reflect on the goal and the work needed to be successful, you realize it is not that important. If this is the case, don’t allow yourself to feel guilty, just let it go.
If the goal is still important, take time to record the things that took you off track leading to you quitting your goal. For example, let’s say your goal was to lose weight by eliminating all unhealthy foods and working out 5 days per week. You sustained these new habits for 10 days but then found yourself ordering dessert when out to dinner, buying a bag of chips when you stopped for gas, and you stopped going to the gym.
Modify Your Plan – Research indicates that most people quit their New Year’s resolutions because they can’t sustain the action needed for success. Most of the time, the goal is a good one, it is the plan that needs to be modified. In the example above, eliminating all junk food and sweets and working out 5 days per week is very ambitious and is too hard to sustain. Recalibrate your plan by allowing an occasional treat and reduce your workouts to 3 or 4 times per week.
Build Guardrails – Your 2025 goal is important, and you have modified your plans to reach the goal. What should you do next? Build guardrails to ensure your success. Be intentional, and very specific, eliminate obstacles, and track your progress by recording your actions. Using the example above, plan all your meals for the week incorporating healthy foods and eliminating unhealthy items (being intentional and specific). Order your groceries online so that you aren’t tempted by the candy and cookie aisles (removing obstacles). Review your calendar and schedule your workouts on three days that make sense (being intentional, specific, and removing obstacles). Finally, jot down daily what you ate and the number of times you worked out that week (tracking progress).
In the end, to sustain the actions necessary to reach your goal you have to do hard work, day in and day out. If you get off track, remind yourself how important your goal is and quickly put yourself back on track. Don’t give up! Do you want some help getting back on track? Schedule a free discovery session and I will help you.