The New Year is here. For many people this means New Year’s resolutions.
Only 8% of those people will actually accomplish their resolution.
But we don’t want you to be a part of the 92%. In fact, this post isn’t about setting and attaining a New Year’s resolution at all.
This post is about helping you become a new you.
Don’t Be SMART
Well, yes, be smart about how you go about planning your new you. But while many people advocate for SMART goals (goals that are specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-related), many other people find them a little hard to wrangle.
And we don’t know about you, but when we put that much time and thought into something and don’t reach it, it’s depressing.
There are many reasons why we don’t attain goals – and why we actually prevent ourselves from reaching our goals.
Why Goals Don’t Work
What makes you a better you is a healthier you. A you that is more active, a you that eats more fruits and vegetables. And it doesn’t matter whether you lose two pounds or 20 – it’s still a better you.
You know you eat too much processed food. If you were to write a SMART goal, it might read something like this:
I am going to lose 20 pounds in 2017 by reducing the amount of processed food I eat.
That sounds perfectly reasonable, doesn’t it?
But what happens when one week you decide to have fries with your meal instead of a side salad? Then you find yourself on the endless spiral down where you keep giving up on your goal.
That’s the problem with goals and resolutions. If you set a goal of losing 20 pounds, but only lose 10, you tend to lose sight of the fact that you’ve done something. Instead, you focus on what you didn’t accomplish.
Focus on Projects, Not Objectives
So instead of writing that SMART goal, plan a project instead. A project toward a better you might be:
- Find and make one new healthy recipe
- Visit your doctor to figure out how to alleviate your joint pain so you feel comfortable exercising
- Attend an exercise class at the gym of your choice
- Walk three miles
After you’ve accomplished that project, start another. And when you’ve accomplished that one? Pick another.
It doesn’t have to be the same project every time. And you can have multiple projects in one week or even one day.
It takes the pressure off. If you miss a day, you haven’t failed. You simply haven’t finished your project.
Hold Yourself Accountable
You have to do your projects, though. The work is necessary to reach a better you, no matter how you approach the process.
Maybe you can block out time on your calendar that is dedicated to your projects. Maybe you find an accountability partner.
Keep Doing Your Projects
After completing project after project, by the end of the year you look back. And you realize you’ve slowly changed your eating habits. You’ve exercised more than you haven’t. And you feel better about yourself than you have in a long time. And that, Therafit girls, is a new you.
