If you’re one of the millions of people that woke up on January 1st, (possibly sometime in the mid-afternoon with a really sore head and a desperate need for water) and made a promise to yourself that you’re going to lose weight and get fit this year, keep reading and hopefully you’ll think again.
There’s a problem with New Year’s resolutions: They’re bullshit!
Let’s take a look at how you can actually follow through on your goals for the year and make those lifestyle changes that will help you lose weight, get fit, and be healthy.
According to the University of Scranton the number one New Year’s resolution in 2014 was to Lose Weight. That’s cool, you and I can both relate to that! But for all the good intentions, bugger-all of us actually keep those resolutions, in fact the research suggests that only about 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals, and 33% of people have abandoned them before the end of January.
Why I Don’t Make New Year’s Resolutions
If ya know that something has to change, why the hell would you wait till January 1st to do something about it?!
This just feels like an excuse to me, there’s 364 equally good days to change your life. If you know you need to make a change, make a decision to do it and then figure out how you’re gonna get it done.
New Year’s resolutions are like trying to make big sweeping changes that we know don’t work. They introduce a massive gap between where you are right now and where you want to be, they make you look in to the future but never at what you’re doing right now.
Want a New You? Be a New You!
If you want to be something else, you’re gonna need to be that person right now. Like I’ve said before; there is no finish line, there’s only now. Ok I’m starting to sound like some kinda self-help guru but let’s run with it for a bit.
Decide the type of person you want to be and create a new identity for yourself. I’m not talking about changing your name and growing a dirty moustache, I’m talking about identifying the qualities of the person you want to be and making them part of who you are. If you want to be a person that makes healthy food decisions and exercises more. Make that choice, then start with REALLY small changes and prove to yourself that you can do it.
So maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah right! New identity, be a new you, fuck off!” Well, you’ve heard the expression fake it till you make it right? Well, research suggests that you can actually fake it till you become it.
Amy Cuddy is social psychologist known for her research on stereotyping and discrimination, emotions, power, nonverbal behavior, and the effects of social stimuli on hormone levels. Yeah that sounds pretty intense and well beyond my level of intelligence, but what her research tells us is; body language affects how others see us, but it also changes how we see ourselves. Her research and the video below doesn’t relate to weight loss, but it is an example of how you can change yourself and how you can become a new you!
So how do I fake it till I become it and lose weight in the process? Make really small changes, so small that you don’t really notice them, eventually they become habit and you move on to more small changes that also become habit. Try and do better today than you did yesterday, it doesn’t matter what happened in the past, that was the old you.
Be Clear and Make it Achievable
Most New Year’s resolutions are pretty vague and generally go something like this:
- Lose weight
- Eat better
- Get fit
- Exercise more
- Get healthy
When we set these goals we’re all pretty inspired and motivated, but the problem is there’s no detail about how we’re going to achieve them.
- So you want to lose weight? That’s cool. How?
- You’re gonna get fit? Great. How?
- You’re gonna eat better meals? Awesome. What’s a better meal?
What happens with these vague New Year’s resolutions? We get started all guns blazing, just like I did when I first started out on my own weight loss mission and quickly burn out when we don’t see immediate results. The task is just TOO big, the gap between where we are right now and achieving our goals seems like mission impossible and eventually most of us will just say “Fuck it”.
The Solution: Don’t overwhelm yourself with a task that’s too big. Pick ONE or TWO really small things this month and only work on those. You wanna make these mini goals (new habits) super easy to complete.
- Want to lose weight? Try something like this: Take something small out of your diet. For example, I halved the amount of sugar I had in my coffee for a couple of weeks, then changed from full cream milk to trim milk.
- Want to get fit? Start by going for a 10 minute walk everyday before, during, or after work.
- Want to eat better meals? Try cooking something like these delicious fish tacos for tea once or twice a week.
Maybe you’re thinking that seems too easy? That’s kinda the point! These mini goals are supposed to be so easy to complete that it’s a no-brainer. But what you’re actually doing is forming new habits, and training yourself to become a new you. Completing a small thing every day for a month is how we form new habits that stick. When you’ve mastered one, move on to the next and without realising it, you’ll be living your new identity.
Are You Accountable?
Accountability isn’t for everyone but it can help. After I came out of hospital I had lot’s of people telling me I needed to lose weight. Like I didn’t know that already! But the real motivator came from wedding clothes that didn’t fit. Yup, my mate sent all the groomsmen clothes over from the U.K. and mine didn’t fit! Couldn’t do the pants up, couldn’t do the shirt up, could barely get into the jacket, had to put extra notches in the belt. The only thing that fit me was the shoes! He’d spent hundreds of dollars on clothes, sent them half-way round the world and I was the only one who had an issue.
If you know anything about weddings, you’ll know they’re stressful for everyone involved. I wasn’t about to be the guy that fucked up the styling of the wedding party! I had 5 months to make it work. Suddenly I was accountable! I had a clear purpose, fit those clothes.
I lost 14kg in those 5 months, which isn’t huge but I did fit those clothes (just!).
The lesson here is that I was accountable to someone, I had a purpose! The effort required to lose weight seemed pretty insignificant compared to letting my mate and the wedding party down.
There’s lots of ways to be accountable and give yourself a bigger purpose:
- Make a bet. Make the stakes high enough that you really don’t want to lose!
- Sign up to RunKeeper. I use this to track my walks and runs. I set myself a target distance every month and find it to be a great way to keep myself accountable. There’s a leaderboard that tells you how you rank amongst your friends using the app and notifies me when people I know complete a walk or run too, which adds a little extra motivation. Add me as a friend and we can (virtually) walk or run together (here’s my profile)
- Don’t go it alone. Find a workout partner or someone who will support and encourage you when things get hard. You can always drop me a line or message me on facebook if you want to talk things through or need some support.
Getting it done.
So if you ditch the vague, pointless New Year’s resolution and decide it’s time to make a change, here’s how you’re gonna get it done:
- Suss out the person you want to be: “I’m gonna be a person that goes for a walk everyday!”
- Identify REALLY small, achievable goals and prove to yourself that you can be this new person: “I complete this really simple muscle workout every second day, no excuses, I just get it done!” Or, “I’m gonna halve the amount of sugar I have in my coffee every day.”
- Find support and/or be accountable to someone: “I’m gonna sign up to RunKeeper and walk at least 5-10km every week.”
I’d LOVE to hear about your small goals and the new you, so tell me all about it in the comments below.
And then get it done!
-Shane
image credits: Häppy New Year, success, joy & good health for 2014!
She talks about identity yet I bet the house she does not have the faintest clue 9save for some clueless folk intuitive notions) of what identity generally and personal identity, specifically, entail.
This is irresponsible blather from someone for whom critical thinking is a hindrance to public acclaim. More, it only serves to lower the odds that social “science” ever will be taken seriously by physical sciences or philosophical inquiry.
And this from a Harvard professor (admittedly from the Business School — a place where the oxymoron is prominently displayed in the name of the institution). Pathetic — makes my association with Haavaad (grad school) seem more an embarrassment than something in which I can take pride.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. I hope you find what you’re looking for.