Here we are in the middle of January and many people who made New Year's resolutions have slipped and feel like a failure. Resolutions are set up to make most people fail. 

A resolution typically goes something like this - I will not do .... again. You may have decided to eliminate all sweets from your diet or exercise every day. You are good for about a week, maybe two, then life interferes and you eat a piece of chocolate or sleep in and miss a workout. Your resolution is shot and you feel like a failure. You stop exercising and go back to eating desserts every day. Nothing has changed and next January you make the same resolution. 

Here is a better plan. Focus on goals instead of resolutions. Goals give us something to reach for without the restriction of perfection. Goals help us to focus on what is important, but allow us to slip up without declaring failure. A good goal should be difficult but reachable. When we design our goals, it is important to think about the challenges and obstacles that will arise and how we will work around them.

Obstacles are hurdles to get over and not walls that stop us from reaching our goals. If/then statements are a good way to plan for any obstacle that can get in the way of reaching our goals. If your goal is to reduce the amount of desserts that you eat and you know that you will be attending a birthday party in the near future, your if/then statement might be - If I am at a birthday party, I will make sure I have a glass of water to drink instead of birthday cake. If you still feel the need to eat some cake, then allow yourself a small slice. The small slice may keep you from going on an all out binge and satisfy the craving to eat cake.

If you would like to talk more about goals and how to achieve them, call or email me to set up a free goal consultation. 

 To sign up for a free no-pressure consultation, call us at 484-441-6126 or email Jim@strengthforlife.us.