Setting Expectations
Start with one thing
The beginning of a new year brings with it a massive amount of motivation and drive to change so much. We want to drink more water, sleep better, workout more often, eat clean every day, meditate, etc., etc. And we want to do it all now! We need to resist this urge and focus on trying to accomplish one thing at a time. Think about it - if we decide we want to work on 12 different aspects of our health and fitness in 2023, instead of doing them all at once, how about doing 1 per month instead? By the time December 31st comes around, we will be a completely different person.
Set the bar low
At first glance, this may sound counterintuitive but when it’s unpacked it can be a very powerful strategy to help us reach our goals. Setting the bar low allows us to leverage something very powerful - momentum. When we are constantly getting wins - however small they may be - it leaves us feeling confident and seeking more success. Conversely, if we set the bar so high that we only reach it every now and then, we are far more likely to get discouraged and quit. We should ask ourselves on a scale of 1-10 how confident we are we can pull off whatever goal we have set out to achieve. If the answer is not a 9 or a 10 then we need to work to adjust the difficulty of the goal or completely change the goal altogether.
Learn to check the box
There will be days when we show up to our workout and we’ll feel like we have it all mastered and nothing can stop us. And then there will be days when we feel like we are completely lost and we should throw in the towel. The same can be said for nutrition as well as any other department of our health and fitness journey. Remember, motivation is fleeting, so we can’t expect to be on top of our game 100% of the time. We need to account for this. We need to expect it. We need to learn to be ok with checking the box.
It won’t be a straight line to the end
It would be nice if we were able to establish where we want to go and just hit the go button and 10-12 months later we arrive. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. There will be many twists and turns along the way. It will feel like a rollercoaster ride at times. However, as long as we trending in the general direction of where we want to go and are making incremental progress along the way, that is what’s most important.
It doesn’t have to be perfect
In fact, striving for perfection when it comes to reaching the goals we set for the new year will actually make it far more likely that we will fail. We have parties to go to. We have daily stresses to deal with. Life happens. We need to cut ourselves some slack and accept that we don’t need to be perfect in order to reach our health and fitness goals. We can still eat dessert. We can still go for drinks with friends. We can still eat fast food even! Tinker. Adjust. Experiment. Find what works for you and then focus on being consistent because consistency compounds. Consistency compounds.
