TOP 5 REASONS WHY YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS MAY FAIL:

1. Setting vague goals: No resolution guarantees automatic failure more than the vague ones like, "I'm going to eat healthier" or "I'm going to get in shape". If you don’t have a specific goal how will know you have achieve it. Be specific: “I will lose 8 lbs this next month”,” I will schedule a date with my spouse every Friday night”, “I will jog 1 mile , 3 days per week” I will stop drinking soda pop and substitute it with good clean water or a healthy lemonade” or “I will only drink 3 cans of soda pop per week”. Be specific!!!

2. Trapping other people in your resolution: "This year, I'm going to travel more with my family!" Did you ask them if they wanted to go? “This year I am going to work out with my girlfriend”, does she want to workout? If so does she want to work out with you? If you want to have joined goals it’s great but make them jointly, consult with the involved party and reach a mutual decision. Set your own goals for yourself and make them something you can achieve without involving everyone else in your life. For each person you add to your group declaration, you double your chances of it failing.


3. Not doing the homework first: your goals need to be realistic. You can’t just pull them out of a hat without first doing some research or consult with experts. “I am going to lose 50lbs in the next 30 days” … may seems awesome but how are you going to achieve this safely? “I am going to get in shape and run a marathon next month”… again worthwhile goal … but if the only exercise you have had for the past few years is jumping to conclusions and pushing your luck this is again not realistic. Study your material. Know how you are going to achieve your goal, what the proper, safe and realistic steps are to achieve them. Anything else will lead you to stop and never reaching the said goal.

4. Going all out, no restraint, no common sense: getting in shape is top of the list for most people’s goals. But if you have not exercised in a long while, going to the gym and lifting weights for 2 hours or going out to run 6 miles every day will get you most likely injured instead of in shape. You need to take the proper steps. Going too fast, too hard will make it so you stop short of achieving your goals. It will more discouraging than beneficial.

5. Failing to know yourself: The problem most people have with these commitments is that they're picturing themselves as a completely different person with infinite time, money, energy and resources. Know your abilities and your limits. Yes you need to improve them but your starting point might not be the same starting point as your best friend/ neighbor/ co-worker. Be realistic.

Be smart, be healthy!!!