WITH THE BEST INTENTIONS, WE RESOLVE TO CHANGE; BE IT TO INVESTIGATE THE LOCAL GYMS NEAR ME AND BECOME A HEALTHIER PERSON, OR TO BECOME MORE PHILANTHROPIC OR OUTGOING. NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS COME EVERY YEAR, AND IT’S A SAD TRUTH THAT THEY ARE OFTEN GONE BEFORE JANUARY IS OUT – ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTH AND FITNESS.

So here we will look at ways to help you make better resolutions and more importantly give advice on how best to stick to them. Intention is one thing, but action and commitment are required.

Reality

The simplest way of ensuring that you fail to meet your goals is by making them unattainable. Set them too high or unrealistically, and you are bound to fail, become disheartened and quit. Your goals therefore need to be S.M.A.R.T. i.e. specific, measureable, attainable, realistic and timely. You also need to review your goals periodically and move them forward incrementally as you achieve each one.

Plan

Hasty decisions on New Year’s Eve will not be sensible, so start thinking of your goals in advance. Keep a diary to see what means the most to you and how things will change. Also plan for hiccups – what to do if you miss a gym session, or are tempted by an indulgence.

Why

Ask yourself why you are searching for “local gyms near me” on New Year’s Day? What’s the motivation behind the resolution? If it is for self-improvement then you are more likely to succeed than if it is for other people etc.

Chat

Secrets can become daunting prospects, growing in importance and therefore adding to the pressures to succeed. If you talk to others about your plans, they will help you deal with and keep them too.

Progress

We all have self-doubt and we always underestimate what we have achieved. But if you keep a diary of your journey, with photos and clothes sizes etc. you’ll see that there has been real progress. Selfies are a great motivator and means of documenting your body image.

Critics

Nobody will be harder on you than yourself. You need to give yourself a break though. Yes you’ll need motivation, but positive, not negative – look at how far you’ve come, not how much further there is to go. Negativity inevitably leads to inactivity and failure.

Rewards

Not a big cake after leaving the gym, but tangible and meaningful rewards that will boost your enthusiasm rather than create guilt – so perhaps a new set of (smaller) workout clothes, or a health spa. You’ll associate the success with positivity by doing this.

Determination

You have to keep going, even when you have a bad session or bad week. Look at your progress from your photos, talk to your friends and loved ones about how you feel, and look back to the reasons why you decided to start on this journey. Then dust yourself off and go again.

Making a resolution is easy and truthfully meaningless unless we commit to it. Throw away comments are soon forgotten. Instead plan, execute and succeed in whatever you wish to do. There’ll be obstacles, but if everything was easy, then the local gyms near me would be shut down through a lack of business.

So well done for resolving to change, now the fun part begins…