What every stickler should know about good resolutions
Good resolutions are nothing but good goals.
Your day is your month is your year. Your best year comes from the little things you do today.
And yet: If we meet again in exactly one year from today, then more than half of us will have exactly the same physique, the same debts, the same boring job or the same bad habits that we have already left behind left us.
It is quite possible that you are one of them. But maybe not.
The good news is:
You don’t have to accept that.
Believe me, I know how that is. There were times when I dropped my resolutions.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past 18 years, it’s how I set goals that are really important to me – and stick to them mercilessly. Until they are real.
Because that is exactly what distinguishes the successful persistence from the frustrated rest.
Personal top performances, a body in which you feel good again and you are bursting with energy – all of that is possible.
But it is NOT possible if you set resolutions the way most people do.
If you want to take advantage of this year, then you should know the following 10 pitfalls that bring many people down – even before they take the first step.
Good resolutions: You should avoid these 10 mistakes
If you know the following success preventers, then you can stop the self-sabotage programs that many people put in their way without even realizing it.
1. They don’t believe in their success
People who achieve their goals believe in themselves. This is what sets them apart from everyone else:
Most people don’t believe that they will implement good resolutions.
Gym operators know that the influx is greatest at the beginning of the year. They also know that many new customers will no longer set foot in the studio (and keep paying) in a few weeks.
What about those who give up? Many are used to making themselves bad feelings: Instead of getting up and starting over, they feel like failures.
It feels like the goal is getting a little further away with each failure.
But whoever gives this meaning to failure prevents further progress without wanting to.
Whether we like it or not, course deviations are an integral part of every path to the goal.
All successes in the world are based on so-called “failures”.
The moment when you let go of your doubts and believe in yourself is the moment when you make progress again.
2. They don’t learn from their mistakes
There are no bugs, there is only feedback. Everyone who stays with it knows that.
Anyone who does not deal constructively with this feedback fertilizes the breeding ground for self-doubt.
Take a moment and think about the last 12 months:
- How are you feeling?
- What goals did you achieve?
- Which goals did you not achieve?
- What went well, what went less well?
Progress also requires that we deal with things that have not yet gone optimally and ask ourselves what we can learn from them for the future.
3. You pursue goals that contradict one another
Nothing is more motivating than a big goal that inspires you.
Your chances of success increase dramatically if you subject your good resolutions to a reality check.
Maybe your fitness goals are still in conflict with goals in other areas of life? These can be professional, maybe also family obligations.
Unresolved conflicting goals can cost you energy unnecessarily.
Energy that would then have been lacking for your actual goals. Many people gradually lose momentum as a result.
Anyone who ignores conflicting goals risks ending up in the hamster wheel. And often finds out a year later that nothing has really changed.
Successful followers have their priorities clear and align their goals with one another.
4. You stay in your comfort zone
Do you prefer to play it safe? Sure, who doesn’t want security?
There is a catch:
If you always play it safe, you don’t risk anything.
On a small scale, the safe-is-safe approach is an excellent idea: For example, when we are talking about daily or weekly goals.
If you have good resolutions or annual goals, you can exaggerate a little.
There are two simple reasons for this:
- Unassuming goals do not inspire.
- Meager goals neither stimulate your creativity, nor your ingenuity nor your persistence.
You don’t get up enthusiastically in the morning for that. Better to stay where it is, not worth it. Only if you are allowed to reach for a goal will it make you jump out of bed in the morning full of energy.
Your goal should be so big that you can’t stand to remain inactive.
Good resolutions can challenge you, then you can grow with them.
5. You avoid deadlines
Deadlines are inconvenient. You feel it when you formulate your good resolutions.
Deadlines ensure that you leave your comfort zone.
Let’s do an experiment. Here are two great resolutions:
- “I’m doing more sports this year.”
- “I’m losing weight this year.”
… or …
- “From January 11th, 2020 three strength training units per week will be routine for me.”
- “In 90 days at the latest, I will fit into my favorite pants again.”
Do you feel the difference?
Deadlines help you to take action.
Regardless of whether we are talking about start or end deadlines.
Deadlines are always a bit uncomfortable. And they should be.
6. You are not passionate about it
Especially in the work environment, I have often seen people pursuing goals – but without any inner drive.
A healthy, fit body is great – but not everyone gets excited about it.
That’s why they lack the drive. Some would call it self-discipline. It’s like this: we humans do what we think is right.
That means:
You can want the change, you can want the improvement.
When the inner fire is lacking, it is only logical not to do anything about it.
Because if you work for goals that you don’t burn for, you quickly burn out.
7. They lack the standard
Most New Year’s resolutions sound like this or something like that:
- Eat healthier.
- Do more sport.
- More time for friends.
- Smoke less.
- etc.
Here’s the catch.
How would you know that you are successful?
More sport than last year? Easy. Exercise exactly 1 second more. Goal achieved!
Eat healthier? Easy. Eat the same thing as last year and a lettuce leaf. Goal achieved!
Smoke less? …
Okay – you know what I’m getting at, don’t you?
As long as you do not set a measurable criterion for your progress, success remains a matter of chance.
How do you know that you are eating healthier? How do you know that you are doing regular sport? What does smoking less mean to you?
If you don’t measure it, you don’t know where you are. And when you don’t see how much you’ve already achieved, it’s easy to lose focus – and easy to give up.
8. They throw smoke grenades
If you clearly formulate your good intentions, you take your leeway. Sometimes we just want to be vague, don’t we?
If the target remains unclear, every shot would be a hit.
Maybe so. But it also means that the path remains unclear. And that brings us to point 7: You would have no way of measuring your progress.
Which thought pushes you more: “I’ll start training soon.” or “Tomorrow at 7:00 am I will start the first of three sets of squats with dumbbells in my HomeGym”?
The more clearly you formulate your good intentions, the higher the probability that you will stick with it.
9. They don’t know their “why”
Some people set goals without thinking about why they care.
Sure, looking good naked does matter. And why is it important to you? Health is great. And why? Fitness is wonderful. And why?
If you don’t know your “why”, it’s easy to lose sight of your goal.
But when you make this connection with what really drives you, then you feel the tailwind. Maybe not always. But more and more often.
If you want to make progress this year, you should answer both questions:
- What do you gain if you implement your good resolutions?
- What would you be missing if you didn’t achieve your goal?
10. You are (actually) satisfied
There are people who never get closer to their goals because – regardless of what they say – they come to terms with the status quo.
Most people have learned to endure grievances very well. Hey, we can still function in the worst of circumstances. That has advantages and disadvantages.
Those who come to terms with circumstances that are in their power to change are selling themselves below value.
Perhaps you have already noticed that all ’these principles do not only apply to what you plan to do with your body.
But your body is a great way to practice success. Because it is one of the few things in your life that you can almost completely influence yourself.
Better than any other person.
Sometimes inactivity is the only hurdle that still needs to be overcome.
A list of to-do’s is different from actually doing something.
A plan is an important beginning, but it’s just that: A beginning.
If your big goal is really important to you, then it’s important enough to you to write it down. Then it is important enough to you to break it down into small sub-goals.
Then it is important enough for you to be held accountable – by people you trust: friends, partners or others who stay tuned.
Then it is important enough for you to celebrate progress appropriately.
There is a reason that so many people don’t keep their good intentions:
It’s not the people. It’s the (missing) system.
If you have given up resolutions or goals in the past, welcome to the club.
What if you could cancel your club membership and join a new community?
If this were the year you were pursuing more than good resolutions: real goals? The year in which you take the wheel – and start again to shape your body according to your own ideas?
