The Resolution Solution

It’s the first Monday of the New Year! Have you blown your resolution yet?

All those specific, measurable, acheivable, relevant and time-limited goals that sounded so good last Monday were begging for modifications and exceptions by Friday night. Even if you made it through this weekend, odds are that you won’t even remember your resolution by Valentine’s Day.

But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to make healthy changes. It just means that imposing a new “law” on yourself–I will get up at dawn to run in the freezing cold every day, I will not eat any more junk food, I will eat kale three times a week–isn’t the most effective way to go about it.

A corny work email got me thinking:

I recently read that nobody was making “New Year’s Resolutions” anymore. Instead, we are all being advised to come up with a list of New Year’s “Solutions.”

I’m not sure what that means for work, but I really think it could be a helpful way of approaching health and fitness goals.

Instead of focusing on what we want to do differently, what if we figure out what has prevented us from changing for the past 365 days, and then implement solutions to those “problems”?

If you really want to get up early to go running, are you going to bed early enough? do you have the right clothes to keep you warm? can you lay out your gear the night before? do you set your alarm with the intention of getting up?

If you really don’t want to eat junk food, have you cleaned out your pantry? have you stopped buying cookies and chips “for other family members”? have you stocked up on healthy snacks? are you choosing restaurants with healthy menu options?

If you really want to eat more kale, have you found some good recipes to try? do you have a kale-loving friend who can share her tips for buying and preparing fresh kale?

My favorite personal resolution-solution story is about socks.

I had just started to workout regularly, and was trying to exercise three days a week. I was finding it hard to keep up with that goal, though. When I tried to figure out what was holding me back, I realized that it had to do with my workout clothes.

I was getting up early to exercise, and would lay out my workout clothes the night before. But, I didn’t have enough good sports socks to get me through the week. If I knew I was going to have to wear saggy or scratchy socks, that would sap my motivation!

Now, you might think that the socks were just an excuse, but once I stocked up on good socks, I was much better at being consistent with my routine.

Do you have enough socks to keep your New Year’s resolutions?