It is come to that time of year again where we make our new year’s resolutions to be better than what we were last year. These resolutions range from potentially giving something up, starting a new venture or changing something significant in our lives in the aim of improving our occupation, health and well-being. However, many of these resolutions often go by the wayside once we get back into our daily and weekly routines. Where your resolutions revolve around increasing your fitness, losing a few Christmas/Covid Kilo’s, or reducing symptoms of an injury, here’s a few tips on how to make these resolutions stick, and how to achieve the goals that you have every intention of achieving at this point in the New Year.
- Make your health goals S.M.A.R.T.
If you are trying to increase fitness, lose weight or reduce injury symptoms, be specific about what you are wanting to achieve. “Run a Park Run in under 30 minutes, lose 10kg, wake up with no hip or knee pain” are all specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time limited (we give ourselves 2022 by default).
- Highlight the SMALL steps
Many people make a goal that’s at the “top of the mountain”, and they want to get to the top of the mountain, but they fail to see the mountain that’s in front of them. If you want to run a distance in a particular time, start with your current time and try and beat that time, then try and beat the next time. If you want to lose 10kg, focus on losing the first 1kg. Success breeds success and with repetition, it gets easier as the momentum grows.
- Celebrate the small goals
When you make your small achievements, celebrate them like you’ve just reached the top of the mountain because that will release the hormones and endorphins that become addictive. It will help striving for the next goal even easier.
- Be accountable to someone other than yourself
It’s time to rustle up that friend who said at the Christmas party that they wanted to achieve a similar goal and hold them accountable to it too. We can often make excuses to ourselves that make it easy to settle for second best, or failure. But if you have someone waiting for you at 6am to go for that run around the block, we are less likely to let them down. There’s also a fair bet that you are helping them achieve their goals just as importantly as they are a part of you achieving yours!!
So, make sure you spend some time setting up your 2022 goals and ensuring there is a solid pathway for success. If you have any aches or niggles that you think may stop you from achieving your goals, contact us on (02) 6041 3609 and book in with one of our therapists to help you get started in making 2022 your year of achievement.
