A New Year

At the beginning of a new year many people feel they need to set "New Year's Resolutions." Often these "resolutions" are followed for the first couple of weeks of the new year and then they fall to the wayside. Why is this? Many people set unrealistic New Year's Resolutions. Yes, we may want to change bad habits, but when we set too big of a goal we often set ourselves up for failure. How can we avoid the feeling of loss and failure? Simple. Start out by setting a small obtainable goal. For example, many of us decide that we are going to lose weight. We hit the grocery store the first day of the new year and purchase all healthy food. We also sign up for a great new gym membership. We eat "healthy" food and hit the gym every night for the next three weeks, but then we realize we really want to eat that chocolate Santa leftover from Christmas...so we do...and we eat the leftover cookies and other treats and before we know it we decide that we can no longer do it and we quit the gym and go back to the poor eating habits. We are left feeling defeated and like a failure. So start small. Go to the grocery store and purchase your regular food items, but instead of getting the bag of cookies replace it with a yogurt. Do this every time you buy groceries....before you know it you will have replaced your junk food with healthy food. This principle can be applied to any goal or resolution....just take a few minutes to break the big goal down into smaller goals that will assist you in obtaining your final goal!