New Years Resolutions? Bah!

Are you waiting until January to get serious about fitness?

I’m already starting to hear a phrase I absolutely hate:  “After the holidays I will… [fill in the blank]“

For some it’s “After the holidays I’ll get serious about eating right.”  For others it’s “…I’ll start lifting heavy,” or “…I’ll start on that workout program I bought last month.”  You get the picture.

Are you guilty of saying this?

What in the world is so magical about “after the holidays?”

I’ll tell you what the “magic” is – it’s the dark magic of excuses and procrastination.

Because “the holidays” are a recognized calendar demarcation, it’s easy to put things off until afterward.

“I’ll be too busy until then.”

“There are too many temptations during the holidays.”

Wah wah wah.

And then you bring in the worst self-improvement lie I know of:  the New Year’s Resolution.

I’m going to be sharing with you REAL strategies on goal setting in the coming weeks and let me assure you, there is nothing special about New Year’s except what’s in your head.  That means it’s perception, and you can change your perception.

Your fitness is too important to wait.

You are ready now.

You are subscribed to this website (or else you landed here because you did a web search for something fitness related) and you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t considering getting serious.

There is no better time.

Some of you (thank goodness) are already well on your way to having a great physique and I’ll bet you didn’t “turn the corner” because of a New Year’s Resolution or by saying “I’ll start after the holidays.”

Sometimes it takes a life-changing event to push you into making change.  Don’t wait for a life-changing event.

You are there now.

You have no excuse.

Can you honestly look yourself in the mirror and say that waiting another 5 or 6 weeks (after the holidays) is going to make you healthier than if you started today?

Will it be easier if you waited?  Or will waiting just increase your anxiety over getting started?

Wouldn’t it be better to set a short term goal for the next few weeks?

Like “I will lose 3 pounds of fat by New Years” or “I’ll increase my deadlift by 20 pounds in the next 3 weeks.”  Doesn’t that feel better than “I’ll start setting goals in 3 weeks”?

Do you feel like you don’t know enough about what to do?  Are you waiting to possess some secret knowledge?

(Here’s the secret knowledge:  nobody, not me, not any fitness guru, not any doctor, has all the answers.  I’m in great shape but I’ll still learning new things every week.  You’ll NEVER have ALL the knowledge but you already have ENOUGH knowledge to start – and if you still don’t think you do, just spend 2 hours reading this website and you’ll have enough info to start.)

So start.

Right now.

I don’t mean tomorrow.  I don’t mean later today.

I mean right now.

If you are not already on a regular exercise routine, do the following right now:
- do as many pushups as you can
- then go for a 10 minute fast walk
- pick one thing you are going to NOT eat today that you know is bad for you (write it down, right now)
- pick a time two days from now to exercise again; put that time in your calendar right now
– pick a time 3 days from now to spend 30 minutes mapping out your workouts for the following two weeks; put that 30 minutes on your calendar right now

Then after two weeks, reassess and improve.

If you are already working out but know in your heart that you are just sleep-walking through them and not really getting anything out of them, commit to the following, right now:
- write down 3 simple things you can do to improve your workouts
- write down 3 simple things you can do to improve your diet

Do this right now.  And then take that piece of paper out tonight before bed and then read it again tomorrow morning.  And keep reading it twice a day until those 6 things are part of your regular life.

This isn’t rocket science people.  Nothing happens overnight – all big successes are the result of several tiny steps and the courage to take the first few steps.

Stop reading this article and get started.

If you are interested in setting better goals for yourself, sign up for my new free blog at http://www.goaltriangle.com .  I’ll be writing up free tips every week so sign up now and be one of the first subscribers!

Just starting out with weightlifting? Want to get bigger muscles this winter?
Get my full-body lifting routine here: FullBodyAttack!

Related posts:

1. I Am The Strongest Dwarf In The World

Tags: Goals, motivation