New Year’s resolutions – forget about them unless….
Save yourself the trouble of setting a New Year’s resolution unless the resolution or resolutions that you are setting have been building in importance and the feeling of wanting to change has progressed somewhat in recent time because otherwise you are setting yourself up for failure!
Statistics show that very few are successful in attaining their set goal or resolution as they enter the New Year and that is usually because they are half-thoughts of something that the person would ‘like’ to achieve but not actually something they are prepared to put in the required work or commitment to get there. And hence they give-up.
I would like to share with you the notion of Prochaska’s behaviour-change model which has been adapted and adjusted over the years but essential to understanding human behaviour and what it takes to make a habit and ultimately change behaviour. If you would like to read more on this I suggest you click here. Essentially most people that have some sort of wish or desire to improve their current circumstance sit low in what is known as either the pre-contemplation or contemplation stages and sometimes even the preparation stages. However it would be fair to say that the reason for not achieving the set New Year’s resolution/s is the mere fact that most are not actually realistically at the action stage and hence the lack of desire, commitment and ability to stick to the work required to make the necessary changes falls short. In order to help understand these stages of behaviour change, see below:
Stage of change and description
Adapted from this website
Pre-contemplation
The individual has no intention to take action within the next 6 months and is generally unaware or under-aware of the problem.
Contemplation
The individual intends to take action within the next 6 months. He or she is aware that a problem exists but has not yet made a commitment to take action
Preparation
The individual intends to take action within the next 30 days and has taken some behavioural steps in this direction
Action
The individual changes his or her overt behaviour for less than 6 months
Maintenance
The individual changes his or her overt behaviour for more than 6 months and works to prevent relapse and consolidate the gains attained
Termination
The individual has no temptation to relapse and has 100% confidence in maintaining the change
So what does this all mean for you reading this? As a Personal Trainer that lives and breathes helping people change their behaviours and achieve their set goals, I urge you to sit down and be realistic about what it is you want to achieve. I often get people come to me hoping, wanting and/or expecting to lose (for example) 10 kgs in 2 months and yet when I ask them how long it took them to put on that 10 kgs, they often say (for example) over the period of 10 years! See the gap in reality? Put on 10 kgs in 10 years but expect to lose it in 2 months? We live in a society where almost everyone wants results now, yesterday, even last week!
Be realistic, write your goals down and better still, confide in someone your goals. By sharing a goal publicly with someone you then make somewhat of a commitment and it means you have attached importance to your goal. Announce it on Facebook if you have to. You will then get people that will ask how you are going, perhaps help motivate you on your way but you then become accountable to someone other than yourself.
As a Personal Trainer, my role is to make my clients accountable to me, they have their provided Just In Time Personal Training calendar and logbook, we assess weekly if they are sticking to their task/s. I help them understand where they sit in the whole scheme of things with relation to the behaviour change model and help guide them through it.
So in the absence of me or one of my team training you, you can definitely do it on your on and in fact, I urge you to embark on this challenge. Read this attached blog on behaviour change, buy yourself a calendar as it alludes to and see if you can steer clear of setting a New Year’s resolution but instead start your journey to long-term and sustainable health, fitness and wellbeing goals and then the rest will look after itself. Set this task for 6 months and if you can, you are well on your way to achieving something long-term and will make you happier in the process!
I hope this helps you as you contemplate 2022 and from myself and the team at Just In Time Personal Training, have a safe and Happy New Year!
Justin Moran
0411 798 934
