SMART Resolutions: This Year IS Going to be Different

Beyond
Walking

By Ronda Gates, MS

Ronda Gates, MS, is a pharmacy grad who traded her white coat for a pair of athletic shoes and never looked back. Her health promotion business, LIFESTYLES, provides motivational speaking, program development, and fitness assessment services to support people making a lifestyle change. She has developed health promotion programs for many organizations nationwide.
Visit www.rondagates.com for a complimentary subscription to Ronda’s weekly email newsletter.

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

— Henry David
Thoreau

SMART Resolutions:
This Year IS Going to be Different

You feel it — that unknown force that emerges at the new year. It compels you, once again, to put some health-promoting resolutions in place. Even if you already exercise regularly you may have thought about notching up your training. Perhaps you want to refine your diet strategy or organize your life so your walk is a forethought rather than an afterthought. Regardless, the prevailing spirit of renewal leads us to believe, ”this year it’s going to be different.“

If your past resolutions have fizzled by mid-January, chances are they were wishes rather than resolutions. While wishes spawn resolutions, they are more about desire than planning. We may wish to be fit, to walk the marathon, or sport strong, lean legs. However, to realize our wishes, we need more than a magic wand. We need resolutions. What’s the difference? Resolutions involve planning for success: they contain reasonable goals backed by action plans. If important, they need to be forged with the same commitment you muster to plan your annual vacation, business plan, or budget.

When you make your resolutions this year, avoid the wishful approach. Instead, consider these strategies that work any time you want to achieve a new objective.

Five Strategies
1. Share your pledge with a trusted friend. If it helps to have someone nag you, ask for that favor. If nagging makes you angry, ask for the kind of support that will help you best. For example, if you are committed to hiking more often ask, ”If you see any articles about hiking, will you send them to me?“

2. Create, then repeat often, a first-person affirmation of success in your new behavior. Our minds are powerful forces with many levels of understanding. Instead of saying, ”I’m going to exercise every day,“ say, ”I enjoy exercising every day.” Enjoying exercise will become your reality.

3. Identify saboteurs who, despite their interest in your self-improvement, may not like how your changing impacts their life. Saboteurs are not bad people. They simply can’t be counted on for support. Don’t allow their discomfort with your decision to pull you off course.

4. Keep a journal. Some people prefer structured daily record keeping that assures they stick to a plan. Others prefer periodically jotting down comments about their experience. By spending three minutes early morning or late evening noting your successes (or failures), you’ll learn a lot about yourself, including new ways to prevent lapses from turning into collapses.

5. Use the acronym SMART to write goals for resolution success.

Specific: Instead of writing the vague, ”I want to be healthy,“ write, ”I want to be healthy enough to accomplish any physical task that comes my way.“

Measurable: Define what success looks like. Instead of writing, ”I’m going to lose ten pounds,“ write, ”In six weeks I’ll weigh 10 pounds less than I do this morning.“

Action Oriented: What will you do to attain your goals? This can include starting a beneficial habit, stopping an unhealthy habit, or keeping a current wholesome habit. For example, ”I will participate in one fitness walking event every month,” or, “I will schedule a 40-minute walk with one of my friends four days a week.”

Realistic: Life is filled with constraints on your time and priorities. Regardless of the urgency you may feel, don’t expect change overnight. Instead of saying, ”I’m going on a diet,“ say, ”Instead of nightly dessert, I’ll add a serving of vegetables to dinner this week.“

Timely: Is this a good time in your life to commit to your resolution? Can you make the time in your day necessary to accomplish your goal? If you can say, ”Yes, I can do this now,“ this is a good time to commit.

By adopting one or all of these strategies, you’re more likely to sustain enthusiasm for your resolutions. When you reach your goal, you’ll look back and say, ”Yes, this year was different.“