How To Set Your New Year’s Goal

Most people go about setting goals completely wrong.  They try to do too much, make it too complicated, or make it too inconvenient on their current lifestyle.  By setting a goal you are not ready for and setting too many at one time, you are setting yourself up to fail. 

Many people looking to lose weight come to me and tell me that they will start eating healthier, begin bringing a bag of almonds to work to snack on if they get hungry, start drinking a gallon of water a day, workout 5 days a week, go to bed and wake up earlier, cut their total calories down, and eliminate process foods.  I can go on with this list and I’m sure you’ve heard it before from your friends and family and maybe you’re even guilty of making claims like this yourself.

There is one fatal flaw with these grandiose claims, if a person sets one goal for themselves; they have an 85% chance of success.  If a person sets two goals at once, they have a 35% chance to succeed.  If three goals are set, the likelihood of achieving their goals drops down to 0%.  Yes, a zero percent chance for success if you try and make too many changes at once.  That list I mentioned above contained seven goals with the ultimate goal being to lose weight. 

Saying you’re going to lose 10 pounds is a good idea, but it should not be your main goal right now.  This will be the outcome if you stick to all the actions that lead to losing weight.  There is a way to make this much more effective than years past. 

This year, select one thing from the list I mentioned above and stick to it.  I always recommend doing the easiest of the lifestyle changes first (drinking more water) and that will build up momentum for the larger lifestyle changes (going to bed and waking up earlier). 

Once a person can demonstrate that they can handle that one goal and it’s become a part of their life, now they are ready for their next goal.  This could be to simply bring a bag of almonds to work with them or to change their breakfast to a smoothie or some other healthy option.  But I will not tell someone to do both at the same time.  Once they have mastered one change I will introduce the next.  Although this process is slow, it is extremely effective.