Have you ever wondered why New Year’s Resolution do not seem to stick past February? If you ask most gyms and health clubs owners they see the same trend every year a huge spike in people exercising in January and a huge drop off the next couple of months.  So why is it that all these well intended and at the moment highly motivated people stop going to the gym, start smoking again, and start eating fast food again? There are multiple reasons a person may not stick with their goal or resolution, one of which could be how the goal was developed in the first place. If a goal is made to be healthier this next year then chances are that is not a goal that is going to be reached because the goal is to vague to see progress throughout the year. So I want to give you some tips that will help you set a resolution that you are more likely to reach this year.

A resolution is a fancy word for a goal so here are some tips about setting reachable goals for 2012:

• Step 1: Decide on a task or goal you want to reach or accomplish.
• Step 2: Decide how you will know you have reached the goal or how you will measure your success towards the goal.
• Step 3: Set a time frame you want to accomplish the goal is it a year, 6 months, 3 weeks.
• Step 4: Decide how you want to reward yourself for making progress towards and completing the task or goal.

So here is an example of a common New Year’s resolution of exercising more put into these steps.

• Step 1: Goal- Exercise more this year
• Step 2: Measure- I will exercise 4 times a week for 40 minutes each time. (Could include how you plan to use the 40 minutes)
• Step 3: For 2 months (For this goal and then you could revisit the goal)
• Step 4: I will plan a mini weekend trip with some friends at the end of the 2 months if the goal is reached

Happy goal setting in 2012!

Jennifer Wilmoth, LAMFT

jwilmoth@ GROWcounseling.com