Resolutions

It's January 23rd and some who were adament about specific life changes may have fallen back on old habits. According to an article from Time.com posted december of 2022, only 8% stick to their new years resolutions all year. The fall happens almost immediately. Have you ever 'stuck with it' at the gym through the month of Jan, maybe into february and notice Jan 1 or 2 the parking lot is packed and not one machine is available? I used to joke that it only took about two weeks of this shared cramped space before I could have my gym back. So, why do we do that?

I could spend a lot of time compiling the information on motivation and intrinsic drive and ratio of goal size to goal achievement, but we can save that for an in-person conversation.

I usually like to inspire introspection, like, look at previous goals that you were able to achieve. How 'big' were they? How 'out of reach' were they?

In my recent stint of college, I wrote a paper for one class on motivation. This required me to cite and reference nearly 10 peer-reviewed research articles that were published in the last 20 years.

I didn't find much on the ratio of size of goal to 'achievability', but one thing that stood out was what I learned about how to stay motivated.

1. make a quantitative, achievable, reasonable goal.

You may be convinced to set a goal of losing a specific amount of weight, but consider what your body needs to carry, be reasonable. Consider how you want to lose the weight, obviously most would prefer that the weight be gone forever, so figure out how to slowly burn it off forever. This will mean losing at most 2 lbs a week, but thats another blog post.

What will make 'losing weight' more achieveable is focusing on the quantifiable measurements of the activities that will help you get there. EX: lift weights 2-3xs/week. If you set, 'lose weight' as your goal, this openended goal allows you to settle for less than what you initially dreamed of.

2. Focus on the smaller half.

Once you have set your quantifiable goal, you now have a measurement of time and steps you need to complete in order to get there. Focus on the smaller half. This means in the beginning, keep a close eye on your progress and changes. These changes may seem small and insignificant compared to the stretch ahead, but focus on the smaller half. I'm sure you can think of many times you worked towards a goal and realized it never got easier. When you are near the end, focus on the smaller half. During my 8 week courses, this seemed to help, week 6, 7, and 8 seemed nearly impossible when I constantly assessed my first 4-5 weeks. 'I only have 2 weeks left', I would have to tell myself. I had a tendency to find complacency, to lose interest in the course and almost allow myself to say, 'I've worked hard for 6 weeks, isn't that emough?' No, focus on the smaller half, once I read that article i started to implement that in each aspect of my schoolwork. I had 250 word essays, 10 page papers, or 80 pages of text to read every week. Focusing on the smaller half kept me from getting overwhelmed and finding complacency.

3. Plan the celebration of goal achievement

For me, I finished my final final exam laid up in bed barely over the hump of covid isolating from all life. If I knew that's how I would spend my first few days school-free, I'd probably abandon the whole gig. My initial plan was to spend the weekend with family, a packed house of similar personalities, a party of non-stop loud and exciting happenings. This fueled my fire to finish as soon as I could so I could really enjoy myself. I absolutely prefer a loud and exciting gathering of all my favorite people to half-alive, alone, sunken into my bed. So, plan for the fun ro great thing that you know you will look forward to as a celebration of achievement of your goal. You deserve it.

To provide a disclaimer, I only write this from my high horse of school completion. There are many goals I haven't completed, maybe someday I will. I have been known to extend my timeline for goals. This bachelor's degree, for one, started in 2005, I took a decade plus off, but finally returned to complete what I started. I guess what I'm saying is, do what is right for you. It's your life, you should be able to enjoy every moment.

p.s. It's also ok to create new years resolutions any other day of the year, I personally like to set 'new years resolutions' around my birthday. I like the idea that my birthday is my true new year.

Good luck!

I'm always interested in expanding on these ideas if your curious, hmu!

-Carrie Eckermann, LMT, CMLD, BA