1) Use the buddy system.
- When psychology professor Gail Matthews, PhD, assigned 267 study participants of various ages and backgrounds to groups and had them follow different goal-setting plans, she found that those in the group that committed goals to paper, formulated action items, told a friend about them, and sent that friend a weekly progress report were 33 percent more successful than the group that just thought about its goals.
2) Set detailed goals.
- If you’re trying to lose weight, set the number of pounds you want to lose by a particular date. If you want to save more money, name the dollar amount you want to add to your savings account each month. Concrete goal setting with specific benchmarks encourages a greater commitment to healthy behaviors, show studies reviewed in the American Journal of Health Promotion.
3) Hang in there.
- Individuals who make it past the first 30 days of their New Year’s resolutions are much more likely to keep them, reveals a 2012 survey of 1,000 American adults, conducted by research firm Kelton Global and self-discipline expert Rory Vaden. In fact, of those who passed the 30-day mark, 76 percent had ongoing success sticking with their resolutions. Don’t worry, February will be here before you know it.
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Spot on. Great post.
Set reasonable and achievable goals. Want to do 25 chin-ups a day? Start with 1 a week. Do that for a month. Easy. Next month, do 2 a week. Pretty soon you’ll be ok with 1 a day. Before you know it, you’ll be up to 5 a day. You’ll get there.
Play the long game. Twelve months later, you’ll be doing your 25 chin-ups every day.
Measure your progress. Write it down. Look forward to writing down your new value. Pat yourself on the back. You did more today. You are great.
Incorporate your activity into your daily routine. Do your 5 chin-ups, brush your teeth, wash your face, do 5 more chin-ups.
Don’t give up. There’s one exercise I have been doing every day for the past 50 years. You don’t want to just get fit, you want to BE fit.