Don't Quit Your New Year's Resolution Yet! 3 Tips To Rejuvenate Your Efforts

One of the best things about starting a new year is that it feels as though you're blessed with the opportunity to take on a completely new goal you want to accomplish. Unfortunately many lack the New Year's motivation to make these resolutions become a reality. Often these promises to oneself do not come to fruition, however there are those who are truly devoted to their mission and will make the necessary changes to be successful.

According to Details.com, 21% of all New Years resolutions deal with some type of weight-loss goal. If you are one of the many who are focusing on losing weight this year, here are a 3 important points to keep in mind to better your chances of accomplishing this often elusive goal.

Take Small Progressive Steps Every Week

This alone should be your number one focus as you start working on weight loss. From the moment you start, each week work on improving one thing about your health and fitness. For instance, maybe the first week you focus on improving the choices of drinks you consume on a daily basis. Therefore during that initial seven-day period you work on eliminating all sodas, juices, gatorades, energy drinks, and fancy flavored coffees and instead switch for water or other near 0 calorie beverage.

At the onset of your second week you can focus on preparing food at home in order to eliminate the fast food outings, restaurants, and pizza delivery you may have enjoyed far too frequently in the past. However here's a crucial point to keep in mind. Just because you start your second week does not mean you forget all the positives you accomplished during your first week.

Successfully losing weight is a cumulative process which is why each week needs to build on the other. Take all the positives you were able to start the week prior and now begin adding another habit that will be beneficial for your health and weight loss goal.

Start Exercising Regularly

Once you get clearance from your doctor don't delay to get that body moving. Exercise is the best way to not only burn excess calories from your body but also to start increasing muscle mass and energy. Actually there's a whole host of benefits to exercising consistently as you likely know so just get going.

However there's one note of caution you should always keep in mind. It's crucial you take the slow yet consistent approach when it comes to the topic of exercise. The point of exercising is not to go non-stop for one month and then quit altogether. Not only is that not the point of exercise, pushing your body that hard is likely to cause injury especially if you are not used to working out on a regular basis.

Start slow and in moderate blocks of time. For instance maybe the first week you simply walk for 45 minutes 4-5 days. The following week you increase the time a bit along with the pace of your walk. The week after you may be ready to start alternating between walking and jogging in 10 minute blocks.

After the third week of consistently sticking with an exercise routine of 4-5 times every seven days you should feel yourself getting stronger and having more energy. You may want to start changing up the routine and adding new workouts to your repertoire. There may be a variety of exercise classes taught in your area you may enjoy such as CrossFit, cycling, yoga, kickboxing, boot camp to name a handful. If you'd like to keep the workouts in the comfort of your own home, there's plenty available on YouTube or the DVD variety that you may prefer.

Point is, find exercises you like and that inspire you to want to stick with this process. Having a variety of workouts you enjoy doing will help keep boredom at bay. When you're having fun working out, it won't seem like work at all. You just have to get to that point where your thoughts and attitude towards exercise change and that only comes when you stick with this process for at least a month and find workouts you like doing.

Review and Revise Your Plan Weekly

Losing weight and getting in shape may come easily for you, or it may be one of the worst internal struggles you've ever had to deal with. Regardless of where you lie on the weight loss difficulty scale, it's important you self-reflect at the end of each week and revise your plan so you start the new week with a specific course of action.

When you take weight loss in 7-day increments, you give yourself a block of time where you can focus on specific instances that will either lead you to lose weight or gain weight. After your initial week, reflect on what went well and what may need adjusting for the upcoming 7 days.

Some questions you can ask yourself are:

1) How many times did you exercise?
2) Were your drinks healthy choices?
3) Did you prepare all your meals at home?
4) Travel lunches for work?
5) Were your snacks healthy and controlled?
6) Did you eat late at night?
7) How was the portion size at meals? Overeat?
8) How many alcohol beverages for the week? (Each serving averages about 130 calories)

Once you honestly answer these questions, you will have specific instances you can work on for the next week. Remember, successfully losing weight comes from sticking with healthy choices week after week for a prolonged period of time. Just as it takes time to build a house from the ground up, the same can be said about the weight loss process.

Don't expect to shed 75 pounds in a month because that just won't happen. But you can shed those 75 pounds in 8 months if you dedicate yourself to the process and are willing to get out of your comfort zone and try something new. Focus each week on improving your habits, exercise often and review/revise your plan and you will soon start dropping those excess pounds you want to be rid of for good.

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Unstoppable - Motivational Video

If blue Monday got you down this week, then here is a bit of fire to spark you up again...

Let me know what you think. 

Beating Blue Monday - The Worst Day of the Year

About ten years ago Cliff Arnall, a British scientist, reportedly created a calculation to determine "the most depressing day of the year." The equation includes seven variables: (W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since last failed attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action.

Since then, it has generally been determined that the last Monday in January qualifies as the worst/most depressing day of the year. Over time it has come to be known as Blue Monday.

Not all scientists are impressed with the calculation, and yes, there is a Wikipedia entry to give you all of the history and background.

Whether you think it science or shenanigans - I think it is silly.

I share this not because I agree with the science, or to give you a license to feel badly, walk around moping or looking like we just ate a lemon.

Rather I offer it as a challenge to you and your team (if you are a leader).

This is our chance to make Blue Monday something far better. When you look at the factors in the equations, you could see where all of them could impact someone's mental state - but none of them have to.

Here is my challenge to you.

Make it a great day. Make it a day where your heart and mind and spirit soar.

If the weather is gray and foggy, so what? Are you going to let water droplets influence your day?

If you have already backslid on your New Year's Resolution, that trend can be reversed... starting today.

If you have more bills than you wish you did, don't spend any money today.

But beyond the formula, you can take actions that will insure (yes, I mean insure) that you will have a better day, and certainly not have your worst day of the year.

Here is a short list to get you started.

• When you see someone smile, smile back.
• When you are in your car, let the person merge.
• When you think someone is being mean, look for a different explanation (or consider benign intent.
• When you feel blue, think yellow (or any color that makes you happy).
• Read a book you love.
• Watch something that makes you laugh.
• Call someone you miss, "just because."
• Thank a co-worker for something you appreciate in their work.
• Serve your Customers with cheer, knowing you can positively influence their day by your interaction.

While I could type all day, you get the picture.

What am I really saying?

Make a choice.

Make a choice to create a great day today.

Make a choice to make January 15 (or whatever day you are reading this) your best day of the year so far.

It is off to a good start.

Use today as a test case for yourself. After all, if you can make it a great day on the "most depressing day of the year", you can do it anytime.

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How to Compose a SMART Goal to Increase Your Results

If any of y'all are like me and starting off with your workout program, you should have a goal or two. Or twenty. Or thousands. But a goal is just a dream without one criteria: it must be SMART. As in:

* Specific

* Measurable

* Attainable

* Relevant

* Timely

But you can also have SMARTER goals which are even more successful:

* Evaluate

* Re-Evaluate

"We need to make more oil and our goal is to make more oil for less money." You'll see how this is not smart goal. Similar to YOU claiming,

"I'm going to lose weight"

A fair idea, a nice dream, maybe something to put on your dream board, but not a fair goal. Let's take a look at why.

SPECIFIC

Look at it this way, if something is specific, then someone can't ask for clarification. If you were to tell anyone your goal, no one would want additional information to find out exactly what you were trying to do. Oh? Do you feel "losing weight" is good enough? 

Think about these bullet points:

* How about if you're given a pill that made you lose 20 pounds by dehydrating you and causing diarrhea?

* You know, your leg weighs a lot. In fact, I bet we could amputate both for a NICE weight loss.

* Muscle is heavier than fat, right? So just don't do anything for a long time and lose your muscle. Done.

* For only $100,000 I can surgically remove that pesky fat of yours...

I have a good feeling you did not mean losing weight like the ways listed above. You likely meant that you want to lose fat through a natural caloric deficit. That is much more specific. Let's amend our original statement:

"I'm going to lose fat through a natural caloric deficit"

MEASURABLE

If we attempt to make a nice goal, we might get as far as this one, especially when it comes to fitness. "I want to lose 20 pounds." These statements are all over the place Although we've already found out that that's not specific enough, let's modify our specific goal to bring in something measurable. And no, stating "I want to lose fat until I look like [insert movie star]!" doesn't count as a measurable goal. If you show me how you would measure that an I'll tell you it's OK then.

"I'm going to lose 20 pounds of fat through a natural caloric deficit"

ATTAINABLE

OK, let's be frank. If you are 110 pounds and 5'8", you don't likely have 20 pounds of fat to lose. If you have dress you're trying to fit into for a party this weekend, 20 pounds of fat loss is also not attainable (however, if you do, patent your strategy NOW because you're about to get rich). Make sure your goal is even possible. That's fine if it's a long shot, that's fine if you're raising the bar and "shooting for the stars." But it does you no good to make a goal that you can in no way even possibly meet. You're out to fail from the got go. Make it a stretch goal, but not a cut-yourself-in-two goal.

For this one, we'll pretend I'm a 180 pound female attempting to lose this 20 pounds over four months. That's attainable.

RELEVANT

What if someone asked you, "What do you have as a goal for today?" and you answered, "I'm going to lose 20 pounds of fat through a natural caloric deficit over the next two months." Well that's good, but how is that relevant to today? We're talking about today. Or what your goal was to lose fat but you declared it like this: "I'm going to lose 20 pounds of fat through a natural caloric deficit, drink 8 glasses of water each day, and watch the entire series of True Blood." Wait a second...how in the world does True Blood have in common with your weight loss? And is the water volume for health reasons or to help you lose weight? Be certain everything in your goal is relevant to your single desired outcome.

TIMELY

Our last addition to our goal is to put a time limit on it. Losing 20 pounds over four weeks or twenty years makes for two entirely different goals. And if you don't put a time limit on it, how will you know the amount of effort you need? How will you write down how frequently you need to exercise, how much of a deficit you should have, or if you have have that birthday cake or not? You need to define what your time range is. If you just leave it to "Oh, I'll be happy with any progress in that direction" then YES, you will be settling with "good enough." DON'T DO IT! You are better than that.

"I'm going to lose 20 pounds of fat through a natural caloric deficit over three months"

EVALUATE & RE-EVALUATE

Fantastic. Good for you for getting this far. You've developed your SMART goal, you've written it in your journal and underlined in red. But now it's half-way through your time period and you're not even close to where you need to be. This is when you evaluate your goals and make modifications where you need to. If your goal is no longer attainable, change it. Nothing saying you can't change a goal. You should change what you're doing also, but change it to make it real. Also, if a goal is no longer relevant, take note and either change or remove that goal. No need to have a false failure over your head. Life changes. It happens. Evaluate and re-evaluate through the entire process. Look at it weekly, or even daily, if you goal is short term enough to require a daily review. Just keep your goals current.

OK, now you have the tools. GO MAKE THOSE GOALS AND MAKE 'EM SMART ONES! ENJOY!

If you want to dive deep then I recommend the highly rated SMART Goals Made Simple by SJ Scott. Click the link below to find out more. 

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Meghan Trainor: All About That Change

What are your big changes for this year? Comment below...

35 Common Sense Ingredients For Successful New Years Resolutions!

There is no magic pill for making and keeping New Year resolutions. A wish written on the back of a cocktail napkin at the stroke of midnight on December 31 does not automatically come true. It takes hard work, sacrifice, clarity of thought, and a realistic, written plan, to succeed. If you truly want to make and keep a New Year resolution, fulfill a dream, or achieve a daily goal - tackle the challenge, one step at a time, one day at a time. Banish the 'Someday, Someday, Someday Syndrome.' Instead make every day, New Year's Day. Make every day day count in the coming year.

Rather than growing frustrated and depressed over that same tired list of resolutions - the one that you ignored last January - dare to be different. Try something new. Think outside the box. Don't be afraid to color outside the lines. During the next 12 months, pursue just one dream that inspires passion, interest and desire. Make your dream achievable with careful forethought. Define your dream with a simple, one-sentence resolution that outlines the 'who, what, when, where, why, and how'. Then make that dream and resolution a reality with a plan that consists of small steps that you can take take one at a time, one day at a time over the course of a year. But don't overwhelm yourself by thinking that you have to complete all of your daily goals 'today'. Start small. First, focus on today's goal(s) and the week ahead. As you gain momentum, the plotting, planning, and achieving gets easier and easier to manage.

Over the years, this simple, common sense strategy has enabled me achieve a wide array of dreams - both large and small - including my commitment to exercise, health and fitness; and my determination to stop smoking, earn college degrees, buy a home, master photography, show gratitude, and write daily . . . to name a few of the priorities on my 'Lifetime Resolution List' (the resolutions that I make and keep, permanently). If you are ready to consider the next steps in crafting a resolution that fits you and your lifestyle, keep these common sense tips in mind:

STEP ONE: Create A Lifetime Resolution List, All The Things You Would Love To Do & Achieve!

1. Choose the right resolution, something you truly want to 'do' every day.
2. Choose a resolution that is important to you.
3. Choose a resolution about which you are passionate and interested.
4. Choose a resolution to which you can commit yourself 100%.
5. Choose a resolution that can become a lifetime habit, or an on-going source of achievement, reward and joy.

STEP TWO: Question your motivation and desire.

1. Analyze: Ask yourself "Why this resolution"?
2. Analyze: Ask yourself, "Is this resolution 'realistic"?
3. Analyze: Ask yourself, "Will I enjoy pursuing this resolution each day"?
4. Analyze: Ask yourself, "Can I visualize this resolution, see it in my mind's eye, and picture myself doing it every day"?

STEP THREE: Adopt a simple system of resolution-setting and resolution-keeping.

1. Dare To Dream: Open your mind to all the wonderful possibilities - 'Yes' you can achieve your chosen resolution if you believe in yourself, your gifts and talents.
2. Decide: Resolve to pursue your resolution with commitment and great determination.
3. Define: In one sentence, outline the 'who, what, when, where, why, and how' of your resolution.
4. Do Your Homework And Research: Identify the necessary tasks and goals to get your started.
5. Develop A. Plan: Determine the large, long-range steps, and break them into small daily tasks; revise your plan as you learn and grow.
6. Do It Daily: Pursue at least one small step/goal each and every day, according to a timeline and deadlines.
7. Do A 'Daily Resolution Diary': Write it down.
8. Do Daily And Weekly 'Check-Ins': Chart progress, identify obstacles, make course corrections, and reward yourself for accomplishments.

STEP FOUR: Identify landmines and defuse them.

1. Don't Procrastinate: Banish the 'Someday, Someday, Someday Syndrome'.
2. Don't Give In To Fear Of Success, Or Fear Of Failure: Face challenges with courage, let go of the past, learn from your mistakes, and move forward into your future.
3. Don't Get Overwhelmed, Or Discouraged: Be focused, but flexible; and follow your plan, but be willing to make revisions.
4. Don't Grow Bored, Weary, Or Burned Out: Seek variety in your goals and pace yourself
5. Don't Give Up: Take a break!

STEP FIVE: Case a wide net - identify and use a wide array of tools to succeed.

1. Hold yourself accountable with your journal, by asking friends and family to offer reminders, and joining a blogging community.
2. Enlist a 'Resolution Partner' to join you in your journey, lend support and ideas, and share the fun.
3. Find a mentor to offer advice and inspiration.
4. Join a class, or club, to increase your knowledge and skill level within an organized structure.
5. Seek daily support from your family.
6. Open your eyes: Accept inspiration from the ordinary and extraordinary in your world.
7. Believe in yourself and your resolution throughout the ups and downs.
8. Be organized, disciplined, committed, passionate, and motivated by your victories.
9. Don't replace your dreams with regret - instead, 'Go For It'!
10. Don't set the bar too high - instead, give yourself time to learn how to soar over it.
11. Challenge yourself, but be realistic about your daily, weekly and monthly expectations.
12. Celebrate your successes and reward yourself often!
13. Always Remember: Success breeds success; each success builds on another, like a stairway to the stars!

This is just a snapshot of the many ingredients that are necessary to make and keep a New Year Resolution. Bottom line: All the books, videos, systems, blogs, and advice in the world can't generate results 'for you' - they are simply tools. If you truly want to achieve a dream, change something about yourself, create a new habit - it is entirely up to you to make it happen with ingenuity, hard work and sacrifice. It is your choice. It is up to you. Only 'you' can make your resolution a reality...but the joy and reward you will find along the way will make the journey worth it!

Remember: I Resolve To...Achieve My New Year Resolutions, One Resolution, One Day At A Time For One Year. It's your choice. Do it today. Turn your resolution into reality in five simple, common sense steps: Dare To Dream, Decide, Define, Develop A Plan, and Do It Daily. Make your resolution a permanent Lifetime Resolution, something that's with you for good! Above all, Be A Resolutionista, someone who makes resolutions, keeps resolutions, and enjoys the journey! Let's Go For It!

Kim Simpson, a former journalist, provides communications, fundraising services and strategic planning, for Members of Congress, non-profit organizations, corporations, and associations in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. A self-employed entrepreneur, with more than 30 years of experience, she launched IResolveTo.Com in 2005 in an effort to help others to achieve their New Year Resolutions, Dreams and Goals. Her motto is: I Resolve To . . . Achieve My New Year Resolutions, One Resolution, One Day At A Time For One Year.™ Let's 'Go For It'.

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Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway

Feeling fear whenever you are thrusting yourself outside your comfort zone is a natural response. The challenge is to know when fear is justified and a reason to stop or when fear is just a normal part of the success journey and an opportunity for you to use the fear to sharpen your senses, where you confront the fear and go ahead anyway.

When fear is justified, for example where you may be entering into a contractual agreement with someone that is less than trustworthy, it is crucial to listen to your inner voice and to use the fear you feel to protect yourself. On the other hand, any time you thrust yourself into unchartered territory, where you are pushed outside your self-imposed comfort zone, you will feel fear too. The challenge is to know when fear is real and justified and when it is just your natural desire to seek comfort and avoid pain.

Achievers have mastered this art and they very quickly identify whether fear is justified or whether it is just a normal fear that they are feeling because they are taking a calculated risk and are pushing the boundaries of their comfort zone. You need to invest time to develop this art, where you can very quickly tell if fear is justified or whether it is just your natural aversion to inviting some risk into your life. Feeling fear is a natural protection mechanism that is built into your brain to protect you from any pending danger.

The way to enter the realm of achievement is to very quickly know whether fear is justified or not and to confront your fear, where you feel the fear and go ahead anyway or when to realise that your fear is real and you must take action to avoid the danger. You can never get rid of your fear, but you can learn the art of confronting your fear and using it to your advantage.

For example:

• Your fear of ignorance can be used to generate inspiration to constantly grow your knowledge.
• Your fear of poverty can be used to inspire you to work a little harder.
• Your fear of disease can inspire you to take better care of your body.
• The fear of losing your family can inspire you to remain faithful, work a little harder and show them love as often as possible.

The secret to becoming and remaining an achiever is to learn the art of quickly identifying the difference between harmful or justified fear or helpful fear or unjustified fear. As soon as you make the shift toward understanding how to use fear to your advantage you turn something that can be very limiting and restrictive into an asset that you can use to create massive success in your life.

Once you have learnt the art of knowing when fear is real and justified or when it is just a natural response to your attachment to stability, it is time to introduce the art of daily discipline into your life. As Roy L Smith said "Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability." Daily discipline is the key to unlock your potential and to turn you into a high performance human being, who operates at levels of super achievement.

Positive self-discipline, where you commit to carry out all the tasks you need to each day, puts you firmly in the driver's seat and over time, these consistent efforts will turn into the success you desire. Yes success does require a commitment to daily discipline and an investment of some of your valuable time, which will cost you something small each day. Failure on the other hand requires nothing from you each day, but the price you will pay in the long run will be massive. What choice do you want to make with your future?

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