Assume the worst about you when making new year resolutions
If you have already made your New Year's resolutions and want to hit the gym, hold off. Maybe it's not the best time to start the new year.

Your year begins in March, not in January

Your productivity in the first two months of the year is decreased by the hustle and bustle of New Year’s Eve. We have annual plans to finalize at work, gifts to buy and celebrations to organize. Winter itself is a tough time for you and your body.

On the other hand, there are year-end reviews from others that interfere with your ability to assess your resources. How this happens:
  1. You read exaggerated annual results from "liars" on social media.
  2. These exaggerated results cause you to set ambitious goals that you would not set at other times, because others have "achieved" their goals, so you can too.

So, now you have underestimated personal resources, and you're working on a new ambitious personal goal. That's a hard battle.

The best thing you can do in the first two months of the year is to relax and spend this time with the people you care about. So it's better to plan the year starting from March, when you have recovered and the exaggerated results of others in social networks don't affect you.

Your goal is consistency

"But I am so fired up to go to the gym. Should I stop?" you may ask. Well, you should not. But you should expect a drop in motivation.

New Year's resolutions can include goals that drastically change your life. For example, start working out for two hours five days a week, even though you only went to the gym twice last year.

As Darren Hardy writes in his book "The Compound Effect," your plan to do this for the next 15 years or your entire life is doomed to fail unless you are a seasoned athlete.

Let us say you can put your business aside for the first few months and train at that pace. But sooner or later, the old life will catch up with you: you'll have to take the kids to school, meet up with friends, and watch a show your friends are discussing.

Despite your initial motivation, you will start skipping the gym. This will demotivate you and you will stop working out.

Accept your enthusiasm, but expect it to wane and adapt your plan so that later you do not have to blame yourself later for not keeping your promises. A new plan might look something like this:
  • First month: 5 days per week, 2 hours per week
  • Second month: 3 days per week for 2 hours
  • From the third month: 3 days per week for 1 hour

To create a new habit that will last decades, it pays to start with small changes. Your current routine has been in place for years, and you can not change it in a day.

Your goal is to achieve consistency, which means not deviating from your plan. You can always increase the pace, but only if you want to and can. It will be a bonus.
So

take

it

easy

❤️