Already broke your resolution for 2019?
Don't worry.. we're not judging. Sticking to New Year's resolutions can often times be difficult, especially when it comes to physical and mental changes like working out or quitting smoking. According to Forbes, 92% of people admit to breaking resolutions and experts say it takes at minimum 21 days to break a habit and around six weeks to make a new habit. With that being said, I figured I would give you some tips and tricks to getting through those first six weeks.
1. Find an Accountability Partner
Having a friend, co-worker or significant other keeping you accountable throughout your journey can make a drastic difference. The people you confide in typically know you better than you know yourself and can help you stay resilient by giving you words of encouragement. Last year, I shared with a coworker that I wanted to get back to being as physically fit as I was in high school (or as close to it as I could get). Two days a week I would take a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) class that started right at 5:30 pm meaning I would need to leave the office by 4:45 pm. Without fail, every week around 4:35 on the designated days I would hear "knock, knock, knock.. "If you plan on making it to CG today, you better head out of here." My saint of a co-worker without even knowing it had become my accountability partner. It wasn't like she was monitoring my food or waiting of me to slip up so she could capitalize on an opportunity to correct me. She knew how much accomplishing that goal meant to me truly helped me get into the habit of coming in earlier on those days and wrapping up by 4:45.
2. Make a Vision Board
Being able to visualize the changes you wish to make and the impact it will have on your life can motivate you to stay committed to the course. If you want to travel or develop better eating habits and you're about to spend $30 on UberEats {when we both know there's food in the fridge, or at least a cheaper option}, taking a quick glance and seeing the coast line of the South of France or a screenshot of a round trip first class flight to Bali, may have you exiting the app faster than you thought.
If you are interested in making a vision board and don't know where to start, check out Christie Inge's 9 Steps for Creating a Vision Board or this HuffPost article. You can also make a vision board digitally on Pinterest if you find it suits your lifestyle better.
3. Set deadlines
Having a deadline with checkpoints of ideally where you want to be in your transformation almost breaks down your resolution into bite size pieces. For example, if you want to eat healthier, possibly in January increase your water intake; Feb add on cutting out processed foods/sugary drinks; March make it a goal to have fruits & vegetables integrated into every meal. Starting slow and working your way into drastic changes can often times give us a higher chance to sticking to our goal because the task at hand appears less daunting. Instead of thinking to yourself "I am going to stop smoking forever." think "I am not going to smoke today."
4. Track your progress
Having a way to measure and track your success allows you to learn from your mistakes. Identifying areas of opportunity and course correcting when necessary can also lead you to finding the cause of unhealthy habits. If you notice that every time you go out with that one group of girlfriends you spend 3x more than you intended, are you subconsciously showing off to fit in? Or every time you have a day at work, do you binge eat while watching Netflix?
5. Give yourself Grace
I am sure you have heard the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day". Change doesn't just happen overnight. Give yourself grace and show yourself a little forgiveness when you find you are being too hard on yourself. If last year you went to the gym a total of three times and in the past two weeks you went three times, that is improvement. Celebrate it. Revel in it. Just don't get content.