We are saying goodbye to one year, and preparing to welcome
a new one with open arms! The tradition of making resolutions for the New Year
is one most of us are familiar with and one many of us do each year.
What are you thinking about? Something about the end of one
thing and the start of something new tends to energize us all, cleaning out the
mental closets and vowing to be better citizens all the way around. Kinder,
tidier, healthier, thinner, thriftier… there are a lot of very common themes
that enter our lives. Health, finances, and relationships top most lists.
The key to resolutions in your own expectations. It is a
great thing to want to improve, but you do yourself more harm than good if you
set the bar so high it isn’t something realistically achievable, or you don’t
give yourself a way to get there.
So be SMART. That’s right, with capital letters. Have you
heard of a SMART goal?
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time bound
Specific
resolutions are just that – you specify something instead of being vague or too
broad. Mentioning things like “Who, What, Where, When, How” can hone in on
something specific.
Measurable means
you have given a way to measure yourself against the resolution in some way –
number of times, or an amount, a percentage, etc.
Attainable means
that it is something you have a desire to do and can move towards steadily. It
tends to overlap “Realistic” in many ways – these 2 steps often combine when
you are planning goals and resolutions.
Realistic is
something that you are both willing and capable of doing. You might be willing to lose 50 lbs. in 5 days, but
it is not something the human body is realistically capable of doing!
Time bound is
important and often overlaps “specific” and “measurable” by giving a frame of
reference. Be careful here to balance it to attainable and realistic. If you
want to lose 50 lbs. we’ve established that 5 days is neither realistic nor
attainable even though it is specific and measurable. But if you said, “I want
to lose 50 lbs. this year,” you have put a time frame on it that is realistic
and attainable. If you want to be more aggressive with your motivation, then
put a date on it. “I want to lose 50 lbs. by July 1st” gives you a
healthy 7 months in which to achieve it but also gives you the mental
motivation of a bull’s eye on a date. And that goes back to being
specific! See how they all work
together?
SMART Resolutions:
·
I will walk on the treadmill or around our
neighborhood for 30 minutes, 3 times every week.
·
I will lose 50 lbs. by July 1st.
·
I will hire a personal trainer for one session
every week for 12 weeks.
·
I will put 10% of my income into savings every
paycheck I get.
·
I will ask someone out on a date once a week
every week until I find someone I would like to get serious with.
·
I will take my own 400-calorie lunch to work
every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday each week to save money and eat fewer
calories on those days.
·
I will do one unsolicited kind thing for
someone, friend or stranger, every day.
Not so SMART:
·
I want to lose a bunch of weight and look like a
human Barbie.
·
I will be a size 0 for my reunion next week,
even though I’m a size 26 this week.
·
I will save money this year.
·
I’m getting married sometime.
·
I’m going to have rock hard abs.
·
People will just give me money so I can spend
whatever I want.
·
I’ll be nice this year.
With all resolutions, keeping them SMART gives you a much
better chance of moving past those first few weeks in January where all the gung-ho
motivated individuals who swore they would be healthier, richer, smarter,
kinder or get married have slipped and fallen from their lofty perch of ideals
and are now sitting on a sofa they can’t afford eating fried food, smoking
cigarettes, yelling swear words at the neighbors out the window, and all alone
with nobody to love… don’t let this be you!
The mind is a powerful thing. Use it wisely – be SMART! And may all of your resolutions
motivate you towards a happier and healthier you!
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