Creating Habits to Reach Your Goals

Happy New Year!

The new year tends to come with lots of motivation to crush our resolutions and goals…so, why is it that a good majority of these goals/desires don’t stick for the whole year? Too often we focus on what we want the outcome to be and not what it will take to get there.

Goals such as “I want to lose 50 pounds this year” or “I want to build muscle” or “I want to be able to sit in the bottom of a squat comfortably” are great goals but you also need specifics on how you will achieve them.

Now, don’t get me wrong having goals are extremely important and will guide your decisions throughout the year, but how do we make these things stick?

CREATE HABITS!!

Instead of setting goals and then following a fad diet or high intensity exercise class to make this happen, come up with habits that are generally always present in people who have achieved these goals before.

Lets take a look at a few habits for a few different goals:

Habits for weight loss

Drink at least 1/2 your body weight in oz of water daily

Eat protein at every meal

Tracking your intake (this will probably be a habit in the beginning but can change as you become more aware of what your consumption is like)

Get 7-8hrs of sleep

Consistency

Habits for muscle building

Incorporate resistance training 2-3 days per week

Drink at least 1/2 your body weight in oz of water daily

Eat .8-1g/pound of body weight in protein (generally)

Get 7-8hrs of sleep

Consistency

Habits for improving mobility

Spend at least 30 minutes on your mobility a day (can be accumulated throughout the day)

Drink at least 1/2 your body weight in oz of water daily

Purposefully move your joints daily

Consistency

You don’t need to do everything all at once to create change. In fact, you will have far greater success over the long run if you focus on creating the necessary habits, and creating small changes day in and day out. Overtime, these little changes to your day to day habits and routines will add up and not only help you reach your goals but ensure that they stick and are forever apart of your life.

To start, KEEP IT SIMPLE! Pick 1 or 2 habits you want to implement and focus on that!

Remember the name of the game is consistency, not perfection!

My habits I’m focusing on right now:

1 - Writing 20 minutes/Day (Goal - Write 1 blog/week)

2 - Drink at least 1/2 my body weight in ounces of water (Goal - Better Hydration)

3 - Walking 3 times a day for 10-15 minutes (Goal - Increase daily movement)

Figure out your goals, create your habits, stay consistent, enjoy the results!