It’s that time of year again! Everyone is talking about goals, New Year’s resolutions and… losing weight. Losing weight is a repeat offender on many of our resolution lists, I know it was on mine for many consecutive years.

Do you set new goals? Or have you given up on them because you usually don’t stick with them past February?

If you approach it the same way this year as you always do, then you’ll get the same results. Possibly setting the same goals in 2021.

This year can be different!

Here’s my process for New Year’s goals.

1. Go back and evaluate 2019.

Go through your calendar and look how you spent your time. What would your calendar tell someone that didn’t know you what your priorities were? Was work a priority? Family time? Exercise?

Stephen Covey gives a quality visual in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People regarding priorities. Imagine your life is a big glass jar. Your big rocks are your top priorities- family, faith, career, health, friends, etc. Your pebbles come next are less important tasks. Finally, the sand is the low priority activities. Hello- Netflix and mindless scrolling.

If you start with the sand first, then pebbles, then rocks, you will run out of room. For example, say you binge watched Netflix, so you ran out of time to pack a healthy lunch for tomorrow.

If health was a top priority, make packing that healthy lunch first a requirement before sitting down to Netflix. You’ll get to do both!

Schedule time first for your big rocks and the other things can fall into place! Its all about giving the right things top priority.  (If you haven’t seen Stephen Covey demonstrate this concept, it’s worth watching here.)

2. Celebrate Your Wins

I like to think back through the year to remind myself of what I accomplished. So many times, resolutions are about fixing ourselves. I look at them more as constantly getting better and gaining momentum on what I did right the previous year.
Ask yourself:
a. What are you proud of accomplishing?
b. How can you add more momentum to it?
c. What would you want to keep making progress on from 2019 to 2020?
d. What do you need to leave behind in 2019 to make this happen?

3. Brainstorm new goals.

When I was in high school, college, and starting my career, I always had big ambitious goals I was working on. Somehow when I became a mom, my goals became all about my daughters and along the way I forgot how to dream big for myself. As I approached empty nest, little by little I learned how to dream again.

I challenge you to make a list of things you would like to do, be, or accomplish. Things that excite you and make you feel alive! Don’t self-edit- just start writing. Write down “What I really want…” and start writing.

Think about your health, spirituality, relationships, finances, and joy/fun.

4. Write your top goals as if they already happened.

Marisa Peer, a world-renowned therapist on the Model Health Show podcast, says your mind only believes what you tell it and only operates in the present. What have you been telling yourself?

Start telling yourself that your goals are accomplished. Your mind will work to make it true. Even if you aren’t there yet, practice saying them or writing them.

Visualize yourself already achieving these goals. Use all your senses to physically feel what it would feel like to accomplish that goal. How would you feel if this year you got healthier? were debt-free? Had your dream career? It’s time to transform your wishes into achievable goals!

Rachel Hollis uses this practice in her Start Today journals. Every day I write my top ten goals as if they are already true. At first, it feels disingenuous but eventually those goals become a part of my positive mindset. I believe I can achieve!

5. Choose your top priority for the first quarter

Quarterly breakdown of the year makes it easier to make progress and lessens the chance of procrastination. Many successful people use a quarterly system to set new goals and habits because its just long enough to make it manageable but not so long that it seems like the goal is unreachable.

After looking over your top goals for the year, pick your #1 priority. This is the goal that would make the most impact and would help you move the needle on the other ones.

It could be a health goal so that you feel good enough to tackle your other goals. It could be a financial goal, so you can finance another goal. Whatever it is, isolate it and create focus on that specific goal.

After selecting your top goal, start listing all the baby steps/ habits needed to make progress on it. Break it down into small less than one-hour tasks. Make your goals manageable and then they will become easier to reach!

6. Every day do 2-3 of those steps.

Yes, every day!

To make progress on that quarterly goal, choose 2-3 of those tasks to complete every day. You’ll be less likely to get overwhelmed and your progress will snowball! Making goals manageable makes them doable!

7. Keep Going!

Get out of your comfort zone and try! Growth doesn’t happen in your comfort zone.

Keep failing till you get it right! Reframe how you look at failure. Failure is progress. You learned something and are now stronger and more knowledgeable.

Be persistent! I know you’ve been persistent before. Maybe you were persistent to finish college. Maybe you were persistent raising kids. Whatever it was, you kept going till you finished. Every day wasn’t perfect, but you persisted. Progress over perfection!

If year after year losing weight has been on this list, I want to encourage you to change it to better health. Better health includes a positive mindset, quality sleep, consistent exercise and better nutrition.

Improve your health and you improve your life!

I want you each to have a very exciting fulfilling 2020 and these are just some simple steps to make more progress. Your future you will thank you for putting in the work today. Make this the year that you finally tackle your health and turn your life around!

I’d love to help you! Check out my Aging to Amazing Transformation Group Coaching Program HERE!

I believe in YOU! You are worth the work!