Tis the season for new year’s resolutions.
The two most common resolutions involve financial and health goals.
Losing weight, quitting smoking, exercising more, saving money and paying down debt are all common goals.
Unfortunately most of us don’t make it to the end of January before falling back into old habits.
Lack of accountability is a goal crusher so make your resolution known to others.
Join a gym or commit to walking or jogging with a friend or partner: if losing weight is your goal think about joining weight watchers so you have someone other than yourself to be accountable to.
Post your results on a social media site and let everyone know you will be updating your progress weekly.
I usually don’t even bother making a resolution - why set myself up for failure?
But this year I have a couple of things that I want to accomplish so I have decided that I will start on New Year’s Day and make a commitment to stick with it. One of my resolutions is to make time to exercise.
With all of my work and family commitments I rarely take the time to do anything just for myself.
My husband and I bought each other cross-country skis for Christmas and I am proud to say that we have been out three times so far. My resolution for the new year is to get out at least three times a week.
I have also signed up for 10 sessions with a personal trainer and although I have only made it to one session so far, this is another part of my resolution - to find the time to go to the gym for my training sessions.
The key to accomplishing our goals is not only making a resolution but also coming up with an action plan.
It’s easy to say that you are going to quit smoking, lose weight or find time to exercise but if you don’t sit down and really think about how you are going to work this into your schedule you are destined for failure.
In turn, not only have you not succeeded in accomplishing your goal, you also feel bad about yourself for not following through.
New year’s resolutions give us hope for a great new year but they can also be hard on our self-esteem if we do not follow through with them, so think hard before you resolve to make one and be sure it is attainable.
And when you see me on the street, keep me accountable and ask me how my resolution is going. Happy New Year!