Are You Giving Yourself A Fair Shot?

It is now mid-January and you have probably made a New Years Resolution.

Your drive for this resolution may be starting to dwindle down; or you may have given up completely.

Sometimes it is hard to remember that resolutions are usually things that have been hard for you to achieve. So, you have waited for a new year to start a new lifestyle habit.

The truth is that old habits are hard to break…but not impossible.

Dictionary.com defines a habit as,

“a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.”

So the question is… are you giving yourself a fair shot?

Most of the time the answer to that is no. And it is not because you are not capable of changing a habit, it is because you have tried to do more than you should to start out with.

This is what I like to call the “gym effect” (but it can really be used in most resolutions). The “gym effect” is when the new year begins gyms have a ton of new people signing up and coming in; to the point it is crowded. And after a month or so the new people start dwindling down and all the regulars are still there. The reason behind this is because people set unattainable goals right off the bat, then get discouraged or burned out. Or, they go with the expectation of not needing help and are not sure what to do when they realize they do.

So what do you do in this situation? How do you start a good habit without burning yourself out?

Later this week we will talk about how to make a “resolution” or a lifestyle change that you can keep. And why it doesn’t have to be at the start of a new year.

If you need help contact us.