We all know the clichés around the New Year and resolutions; “Everyone has great intentions but give it a few weeks and the follow-through fails.”

And while that may be true for some, the truth is, the start of the New Year is a great time to implement some new and improved habits that stick! Don’t let some people’s cynicism keep you from starting on the road of healthy changes or new challenges.

To help you get started, check out the following tips:

Start simple

A lot of the reason resolutions fail is that people try to change their entire life in a week! Change takes time, especially when it comes to our ingrained habits. Instead focus on keeping your goals a simple as possible. Then add in more goals and habits as you master each new challenge. For example, if your goal is to eat healthier, identify some simple changes you can make to get the ball rolling in the right direction. Instead of jumping in on the newest fad diet and completely altering your life all at once (something that has a high likelihood of failure… and will probably make you miserable), you could start by ensuring you always include a vegetable or fruit with every meal. Or maybe choosing to eat off the smaller sized plates in your dishware set to help regulate portion sizes. Once you’ve mastered that, you can add in something new like cutting down on sodas or desserts, etc. You can do this with almost any goal, not just health and wellness goals. A huge plus side of this approach is that it helps you change your internal narrative naturally over time, something else that is vitally important to creating habits that stick (but we will get to that in a minute).

Make it easy to do the right thing

Our brains are wired to look for the paths of least resistance. While in some situations this can be helpful (creating efficient workflows, etc.) this tendency is often the death-knell to our good intentions. We make up silly excuses and get tripped up by the smallest of obstacles. If you are like me, something as ridiculous as having to walk into the other room can keep me from completing a task, let alone the effort it takes for something like getting ready for and going to the gym. This is why it is very helpful to look for ways to make it easy to do the right thing. Sure, ideally overtime we build up our tolerance for discomfort but especially in the early stages of creating habits, don’t make things harder for yourself. Maybe you have heard of the people who sleep in their workout clothes so that they can roll right out of bed and get to it? This is an excellent example of removing obstacles — however small and seemingly inconsequential! — so that the path toward your goals is that much easier to execute. If you have never tried this strategy before you might be surprised how effective it is! Other examples, can be getting some basic home workout equipment so that you don’t have to get in the car and drive to the gym for your workout (this is another reason why running is such a popular form of exercise! Just lace up and run right out your front door)! Other wellness examples could be stocking your shelves with healthy snacks instead of junk food, doing some basic meal prepping so that nutritious food is more accessible throughout the week, or even parking your car farther away in the parking lot so that you are getting more steps in.

Be aware of your internal narrative

This is something that many people neglect to address when they jump into their resolutions. They see themselves as an unhealthy person (maybe they even bragged to others about how little they cared, that they don’t eat vegetables, etc.) so things that are associated with healthy living feel not only foreign but inauthentic to them. Maybe they try something for a few weeks but internally they feel like a fraud and they subconsciously expect themselves to fail. This is not only a recipe for defeat, it is a cycle that builds on itself. A fresh failure will reinforce that old narrative that they have identified with and will make a new attempt in the future even more difficult. Instead, practice some self-reflection and take stock of your internal narrative. What do you tell yourself about yourself? What kind of person do you see yourself as? What about that person do you like? What about that person are you hoping to grow, even change? What do you say about yourself out loud? If you always say (internally or externally), “I’m not a runner.” Or, “Running always hurts my knees so I don’t do it.” Or, “I hate vegetables,” or “I don’t read,” or “Everyone always leaves me,” you have just made some pretty strong declarations about yourself that will do nothing other than cut you off from growing in the future. Remember that you get to decide who you will be! Old experiences, habits, and narratives — either put on you by yourself or by others — don’t need to define you in the future.

Get some accountability

Perhaps this the most difficult of all the advice offered here. Getting other people involved immediately raises the stakes on any of our goals; this is the point of accountability! When we involve others in our goals and resolutions, we are forced to define our goals and commit to something; our lack of follow-through can no longer masquerade as indecision. There are many options for accountability: friends, co-workers, significant others, spouses, coaches, personal trainers, run-groups, online support groups, apps — there are lots of options! Some options provide passive accountability, like a running group or a workout class — you know that people will wonder where you are if you don’t show up and that can make all the difference in making sure you go; other options provide more direct accountability, like a friend, life-coach, or personal trainer — they will follow up with you directly on how your goals are going, and may even provide instruction. Just make sure if you are asking a friend, co-worker, family member, etc., that they are truly okay with providing accountability for you. Also be sure to define your goal clearly and request what your hopes would be for their role in that (“would you mind asking me at the end of the week if I did x, y, z,” etc.) and check back in on how things are going down the line.

While it may be true that a lot of people’s resolutions fail after a few weeks, it is also true that this time of year can be an incredibly helpful catalyst to change. Everyone has the ability to move forward into being more of the person that they hope to be and with a bit of strategy, honesty, self-reflection, and help from others, these changes and habits will only come easier and easier!

Originally published as System vs. Goals in Jan of 2022

It’s the new year and everyone knows that you are supposed to have resolutions… but how long do most people make it with their shiny new goals? Research says anywhere from just 14 to a little over 30 days. Taking a cue from their 800 million users’ data, Strava — the social network for athletes — has even dubbed the second Friday in January as “Quitter’s Day.” So how do you get past “Quitter’s Day” with your still new resolutions intact?

FOCUS ON SYSTEMS, NOT GOALS

New York Times best seller, James Clear, writes about the difference in his book Atomic Habits.

“…goals are good for planning your progress and systems are good for actually making progress.” A goal is what you hope to accomplish but a system is your plan for actually accomplishing it. While this might seem like semantics, the difference is actually quite profound. If a goal is the destination, the system is the list of directions for getting there.

THOSE WHO WIN AND THOSE WHO LOSE HAVE THE SAME GOAL

Clear points out, goals are not what differentiate winners and losers. Olympians competing in an event all have the same goal of winning the gold medal but only one person actually accomplishes that goal. The goal is not what sets them apart, the training is. The same is true when it comes to our New Year’s resolutions. We all want to succeed in keeping our resolution but most people do not. This is why simply creating a goal is not enough to ensure success. We have to focus on the systems that we are employing to guide us to our goal.

FOCUS ON THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION

When employed incorrectly, goals can actually become counterproductive and lead us to take short cuts and develop unhealthy yo-yo patterns. Take the example of losing weight. We want to shed 10 pounds so we go on a month long diet that is completely unsustainable in the long term. We reach our goal but then return to eating the same way that we did before and gain it all back. Instead of focusing on changing our actual lifestyle —eating smaller portions of our favorite foods, adding more fruits and vegetables into our diet and incorporating regular exercise — we focused on the destination at the expense of the journey, the goal at the expense of the system. This leaves us in a worst state than before: discouraged, frustrated and right back to where we started. If we had focused on our system of accomplishing our goal we would have found ourselves with real and sustainable life change.

SYSTEMS LEAD TO GREATER SATISFACTION

In his book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, author Scott Adams writes, "Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre success failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do. The goals people are fighting the feeling of discouragement at each turn. The systems people are feeling good every time they apply their system." While goals are not bad, when not paired with systems, they can keep us from feeling the immediate gratification that comes from accomplishing what we set our mind to in the present. When we only focus on goals they can make us so future oriented that we fail to focus on the present in a meaningful way. Systems can help us break out of this cycle by forcing us to evaluate what it actually takes in the present to accomplish what we hope to see in the future.

TO SUM IT UP…

Goals are not bad, in fact they are very useful for setting our trajectory and being purposeful about the direction that we are headed, but too often we focus on our goals at the expense of our systems. To quote a familiar cliche, “a goal without a plan (system!) is just a wish.” So this year, focus on building your systems for accomplishing your goals and cruise past “Quitter’s Day” with ease!

By Sue Joyner

The New Year is almost here, and I think it’s safe to say we are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of 2021. Naturally, many of us are scoping out the coming year, looking to set new goals that help us set healthier habits and challenge us. If I could recommend one piece of advice when setting goals for 2021, it would be to start small. If you feel like this past year dragged you through the mud, and any good habit you once had is gone, do not fear. Go clean that mud off your pretty face, and start fresh. By setting small, achievable goals it’s easier to build on those goals, stay motivated, and eventually implement it into your daily lifestyle. 

For those who are unmotivated, hate exercise, or claim to not have time: start with preparation. Look at the week ahead and pick 2-3 days that week that you can fit a 10-20 minute walk (or whatever method of exercise you enjoy) with your dogs, babies or just you. It doesn’t have to be strenuous or miserable, just get moving. After 3 or 4 weeks of consistently doing this, re-evaluate and ask yourself, ‘is this something I enjoy? Does this make me feel better physically, mentally or emotionally?’ If you answer yes, keep going. See if you can add another day of exercise to your weekly routine or add an extra 5 minutes to your current sessions. Start simple, and prove to yourself you can be consistent. Then you can build on frequency, duration, and intensity over time. 

For those who have perfected consistency but are feeling burnt out or bored: let’s get creative. If you’re a treadmill runner, try hitting the pavement. If you’re a greenway runner, try taking a jog through the historic/downtown area of Cleveland, TN. If you’re bored of your normal route around Cleveland, take it to the trails! Or maybe you’ve tried all of the above and running has become more of a chore than something you enjoy. Try a different way of exercising other than running. Cycling, swimming, yoga, At-home workouts, or strength training, there is always more to learn and challenge your body! 

For my adventure seekers and competitive junkies: this year may look a little different than you are used to. Unfortunately, similarly to 2020, this new year of 2021 can’t promise any more certainty than the year past. You’ve proven yourself to be strong and this is just another thing to muscle through. So when I suggest to set smaller goals I mean to keep your dreams big, but set goals that are realistic for the time we are living through right now. That may look much different than what you are used to but this is a season to be adaptable. Find new ways to entertain and challenge yourself physically. If you have your eye on a race, go for it! But remember to be adaptable if our current circumstances change your plans. 

With the start of a New Year, there is always a subconscious pressure to implement new habits into your life. I hope to encourage you that you can start a new habit, goal, or change at any point in the year. Take the time to decipher what is achievable for this season of your life, set a goal, and show up and give it your best effort. You’ve totally got this year! Stay positive, take care of yourself, and enjoy the little things! Happy New Year!