It’s February. Stay focused on New Year’s resolutions

By Dr. Josh Palgi | Published March 1, 2018

Welcome to 2018! We have the opportunity to discard destructive old habits for healthy new ones.

As surely this past New Year’s Eve involved the dropping of the ball in Times Square, and confetti, it also brought with it something else: Resolutions. I bet you made a few, and so did I.

And remember, a resolution does not need to be tied to the new year. It can be following a weekend, a birthday. So if you missed your New Year’s goal, you can start again tomorrow or after Valentine’s Day, or any marker that means something to you. Just as long as you are ready to give it another go. It won’t guarantee success, but you don’t need to wait until another year comes around to give it another go.

Our life is divided into different aspects and they are:

• Overall health/fitness/nutrition
• Career/work or meaningful activities
• Leisure/recreation
• Self enrichment
• Spirituality
• Close relationships If you plan to start being healthier and fit, start making sure, now, that you are positioned to reach your goals.
• Set the right goal
• Make time
• Find your community
• Give yourself motivation
• Make a plan B.

One in three Americans resolve to improve their health each year. Making a goal to improve fitness and health is an inspiring way to start 2018, however, the frustrating reality is that most resolutions are broken within the first few months of the year. A recent study showed that less than half of the people were successful in reaching their New Year’s fitness goal.

American now spend $3.4 trillion on healthcare each year, with 75 percent of the cost spent on chronic diseases connected to the lack of exercise, poor nutrition, and stress. These factors are preventable and can be directly addressed with wellness activities.

The key steps to take ensuring you create an effective New Year’s resolution plan:

1. Is it specific? Goals need to be specific. As humans, we work better when we have a clear goal in mind. The want-to-do-my-best goal can be great for motivation, but being specific can help give you a clear focus on what needs to be done.
2. Can it be measured? As you can see in the above goal, it’s specific, but it also allows us to measure it and see progression as time passes. This helps keeping you motivated as you can see how far you have come.
3. Is it achievable or attainable? This is a key component of the action plan. Is the goal I am setting attainable? You want a balance of challenge, to keep you motivated, but not too hard as you might lose focus and experience feelings of anxiety and stress. You should increase your goal by more than 5 percent of your current performance or ability.
4. Is it realistic? Make sure your goal can be achieved realistically in the time frame you are looking to achieve them in. Setting a time frame for when you want to achieve your goal is important.
5. Is it exciting? Your goals need to be exciting. If planned correctly, this can help you stay motivated when you are experiencing a particular tough decision that takes you away from you goal. Try coming up with different and interesting ways of making your goals exciting.

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