Mark Suttie, one of our physiotherapy team at Blackberry Clinic Milton Keynes has some encouraging words for you all regarding those New Year’s resolutions and how to make them permanent.
Amazingly, you’re one whole month into your New Year’s Resolutions!
At this stage, you’ve likely gone in one of two directions. Either you’ve been doing really well and making great progress on those goals, or you can’t even remember what they were! Hopefully, you’re the former. If so, we’ve got some helpful tips on how to make these resolutions permanent. If you’re the latter, it’s never too late to get started!
This can be the stage where it’s easy to think you’ve done quite well to get this far and it starts to fall away. Don’t do it! You’ve already done most of the hard part. Research shows that on average it takes 66 days to form a new habit, so you haven’t got too long to go until your changes start to become permanent. It’s much easier to maintain something than to start something new. Here are some tips on how to do this:
Keep setting goals
This is by far the best way to keep you on track by having something to aim for. Make them SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time. See our New Year’s Resolution article for more detailed information/help. You may be still working on a goal which is fine, it may have been a long-term goal. If you set a short-term goal and you’ve already achieved it then great, well done! Think about how you can take this further. Could you set a more ambitious one this time? For example, trying to run further or for longer. Keep challenging yourself with new goals and you’ll be amazed at how far you can get.
Don’t be afraid to change your goals
A common mistake with goal setting, particularly the first time, is that you try and set something which is too challenging. Another problem is that life happens and sometimes something comes up that you just couldn’t anticipate, throwing your plans out the window. So you may find that you’re nowhere near to achieving what you set out to do within the time frame you set yourself. Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid to change your goal so that it becomes more achievable. Maybe you need to extend the time frame you set yourself, or you maybe need to change your target weight so that it becomes more realistic. This isn’t failure, it’s just keeping the goals realistic to maintain progress. Don’t forget to keep them challenging though!
Reward yourself!
No one said this is easy so make sure you reward yourself for achieving goals that you set out to do. Even sticking to your time frame on a long-term goal should be rewarded. This keeps up motivation and helps you to enjoy the process. Try and make each reward slightly better than the last so that you get extra satisfaction from your work. Just make sure your rewards don’t clash too much with achieving the goal!
You’re doing great so keep at it and see what you can achieve throughout the year. Enjoy it!
Mark Suttie
Physiotherapist Blackberry Clinic Milton Keynes
