Why many fail on New Year fitness goals

The New Year is upon us!

Many people set New Year resolutions, what do you think is the percentage of people who succeed with their goals? I would say it probably isn’t an impressive statistic.

Talk is cheap, walk the walk this coming New Year.

It is all well and good setting your new year resolutions but that is the easy part, it’s committing to it 100 per cent which is difficult and this is why so many people fail.

Planning on making a change is a positive step, it shows that you see there is a problem somewhere and you intend to improve on this. So you’ve made a good start, now you need to take action.

Some goals may be easier than others but I’m just going to talk about why I believe so many people fail with their New Year goals:

1. Poor goal setting - Setting an unrealistic goal is the worst start you can make; you will fail pretty early on and struggle to keep going. It is vital that if you do want to achieve something, you set a very specific goal that it is achievable. You need to plan exactly how much weight you are planning on losing and when.

2. Focusing too much on the end point – People can become over focused on getting to that end point that the pressure can become too much. By breaking up your full goal into many little ones can keep yourself motivated throughout as well as being able to see how you are progressing. So back to the weight loss example again, rather than focusing too much on losing 20 kilos in 2014, aim to lose four every two months.

3. Not allowing for second chances – This is the most important one. So many people allow themselves just one chance, if you have set a goal to stop drinking in 2014 or at least reducing your alcohol intake then you shouldn’t quit at the first blip. If you have had a moment of weakness and had a pint or two one evening don’t give up there and then. It is a lot better to have just had this temporary blip and then continue with cutting out alcohol than to go back to your old ways for the rest of the year due to that lapse.

If you have set goals in the past and have failed maybe it’s fair to say you failed due to some of the reasons above.

Just remember when planning a behaviour change, be 100 per cent clear on what you want and why you would like to change. Focus on all of the many benefits that achieving this behaviour change will have on your life and remind yourself every day.

Try setting yourself a consequence for failing as extra motivation, take your friends out for a meal on you if you fail! I’m sure your friends will love that idea which will mean extra support for you.

So don’t make resolutions for the sake of it, find something which is holding you back from reaching your full potential and work on it.

Remember talk is cheap; walking the walk is the challenge.