How's that New Year's Resolution Coming Along?

While I subscribe to this notion that the new year provides a metaphorical clean slate and a good time to set new goals -or resolutions if you will - I don't understand why people abandon their resolutions all together by March?

In early January gym membership sales sky rocket, and your chances of finding a treadmill at 5:15pm on a Tuesday is next to impossible. Everyone who made a weight loss/muscle gain/exercise-related goal resolution is in that gym working on their fitness. However, by early March the gym somehow miraculously empties out, and the crowd returns to include the regulars and a hand full of the newbies. Maybe it was the New Years champagne, or the sheer happiness of being surrounded by people you love, or even a healthy combination of the two that really motivated us to say things like, "In 2012 I will lose 10lbs." or "In 2012 I will stop smoking" or even "In 2012 I will complete my resolutions from 2009 2010 2011".  But why have some put their resolutions on the back burner, or even abandoned them all together so early in the year?

I feel like there is this superstition attached to resolutions that makes people believe that these goals need to be applied at 12:01am on January 1st, for them to be significant. But this is the wrong idea and you are setting yourself up for disappointment! If you've never been to a gym before and are not regularly physically active, then its not that realistic to think that something miraculous will happen on January 1st that will motivate you to go 7 days a week. And the expectation that this should happen is enough to make anyone want to quit before they even start. Same goes for people who decide that they want to lose 10 lbs. Starting a diet on January 1st is probably not a good idea. It might be a better idea to plan ahead and create a diet plan and start somewhere in mid-late January. There is no urgency to complete these goals, and if you have to modify them to make them more achievable- then do it! There is nothing wrong with discovering that maybe your aspirations to run a half-marathon this year are slightly over ambitious. No problem- run a 10k this year and aim for the half marathon next year. The people on the sidelines are going to cheer for you just as loudly, the training will still be intense and the end goal will still make you proud. The only difference is, that you may complete this goal in less time than you wanted to and actually stick with it!

Well, the point of this entry is that I want everyone to understand 3 things:

1. You have 365 days to complete your goal! So a bad day here and there is completely acceptable, and even expected! So don't be discouraged.

2. There is nothing wrong with adjusting your goals so that they seem more achievable. You will get to that ultimate goal eventually! Remember: "How do you eat an elephant?" Answer: "One bite at a time"

3. Its never too late, and you're never too old to complete your goals!