As we head into 2016, many people will place losing weight at the top of their list for New Year’s resolutions and goals.
In fact, many people will place that at the top of their list again this year, having set that resolution in 2015, 2014, and maybe even for several years earlier.
The same goal popping up constantly (obviously) shows you have yet to achieve it, and the issue isn’t that you can’t, it’s that you haven’t properly identified what is holding you back. This year, before you make the same resolution again, take some time to look at what the reason may be for why you didn’t reach success last year, and what steps you can take to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Here’s a few things to think about to get you started:
Your goal is setting you up for failure, not success
Have you ever considered that maybe your goal (or your timeline for your goal) is simply a bit unreasonable and next to impossible to achieve? For example, a healthy rate of weight loss, yielding sustainable results is 1-2 pounds per week. Therefore, hoping to lose 50 pounds in two months is a bit unreasonable and is setting you up for failure (or for extremely unhealthy habits) before you even get started. Create a reasonable goal, with a reasonable timeline and you will be much more likely to reach success!
You are blocked by fear
Motivation is a major key to healthy and fitness success. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of the work and sacrifices that are necessary to help you reach your goals. Fear of the judgment and criticism of others or the berating mother in law who is always giving you a hard time about your healthy choices. Are there fears at the root of why you are struggling to reach success? This one is harder to assess and address, but it can be a big one and is certainly something worth thinking about very carefully. If you’re having a hard time, think about this: when I visualize my success, is the first thing that enters my mind how proud I will be of myself and how great an accomplishment it will be, or is it something else like how much exercise I am going to have to do, and how much someone will make fun of me when I don’t reach my goal in time? If you think of the latter, maybe you are letting fear hold you back . . .
You don’t have a good enough support network
There’s a reason why big companies doing big things have lots of employees and sell shares to the public – they need a big support network to help them achieve those lofty goals. Don’t put yourself in this alone. Find a support network to help you achieve your goals. Whether that’s a group of people with the same goals and you all work together, or someone who can give you a bit of tough love and keep you on track, we all need people to lean on and to help hold us accountable to getting to where we want to go. Find that group and become part of a community to help you reach your goals.
You don’t have the right tools/education
Running a marathon is really hard when you don’t own running shoes, have never run a day in your life and have no idea what electrolytes are. But with the proper tools and equipment, some education and practice, with time, it becomes a much more reasonable thing to achieve. Maybe you aren’t having success with your goal because you don’t know what you’re doing – or think you do, but it isn’t working – and you don’t have the right tools to make it happen. Part of setting a goal and committing to achieving it, is committing to putting the work in to get there. Often this means educating ourselves, learning new things, reaching out and asking for help, or even hiring someone to help you out (like a personal trainer or running coach), if that’s what you need. Be prepared to make the investment both in your actions and with your wallet to make sure you have the best chance of success.
You have a poor attitude
Attitude, positivity and believing in yourself go a long way to helping you reach success. The power of thought and the mind are key players in how well and how soon you will reach your goal. Stop with the negative self-talk and shaming. Stop being so hard on yourself and giving yourself a hard time and stop expecting perfection from yourself. We are only human, and you will have lots of bumps and good days and bad days along the way, but it’s all part of your journey. Start on the journey and just do your very best to make it a success. As someone once told me, “talk to yourself as if you were talking to your very best friend.” Would you look in the mirror at your very best friend and say “Ew. You’re fat.”?
By: Laura Peill – (Check out her blog Chronicles of Passion & Facebook)
