Every end of year creates some sort of a urge to initiate a new “something”. This “something” is usually a goal or resolution to achieve in the new year. It seems that most of us want to lose weight in the new year, some of us want to save more money than we did before, others want a better job, and the list can go on and on. We plan to achieve our goals with the best of intentions.

The interesting part of the resolution is that we tend to get derailed some time in the first one to two months, and the plan gets tossed out. It seems that when the “honeymoon phase” – the part of planning and talking about what we want to accomplish with our friends and loved ones is over, and the real work of consistent action is needed to achieve our goal, we buckle under pressure. We don’t get the reinforcement we need to keep pursuing our goal or we don’t see the results we expect for the time invested so far and we get dejected and lose focus on the prize.

There are two very important points I want to make to help keep you on track. The first important point is this: From the old saying: “Rome was not built in a day”. This means you can’t lose 40 lbs in 1 month and achieve your resolution. We must condition ourselves to expect small gains daily towards our achievement of the big goal at the end of the year. Most people want to lose weight for health reasons. This is an admirable, difficult, yet achievable goal to set for yourself. Do not think that you are going to stick to a drastic, low-calorie diet for two weeks and expect to see 15 lbs. disappear from those unsightly fat stores. This is an unrealistic expectation. A more realistic expectation to have is that after two weeks of dieting, some of your clothes should fit a little looser, or you should start to feel better about yourself. Over time of consistently dieting and exercising, the weight will start to melt off slowly – maybe at a rate of 2 – 5 lbs a week. So, condition yourself that you must “go the distance” – 1 year (or more) – to achieve your goal.

The second important point is this: If you get distracted from your goal and “fall off the wagon”, don’t throw away the goal. Don’t put it off again until the next new year, or your birthday, or next week or next month. The next time to start on your goal again is the next moment in time. If that happens to be the next day, so be it. If you had a bad lunch and “blew your diet”, don’t think that “I’ll start again tomorrow or next week or next month, etc., start with your next meal. A “bad” (fattening) lunch means a lean dinner of salad. I’m sure you have heard: “Keep your eyes on the prize.”

By conditioning your mind to not quit over time, and that every small failure you recover from is leading you closer to your goal, you will be amazed that the failures will become less and the time seems to melt away. Before you know it, you will have achieved what you set your mind to and it would not have seemed that difficult to do.

I hope this helps you in achieving your new year’s resolution always.

Until next week, stay healthy…

Dion