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Forget resolutions, set goals instead

Shortly after new year’s holiday last year I overheard a conversation in the cafeteria at work. Two colleagues were talking over platefuls of leftover New Year’s cake.

“What did you get for Christmas?” one asked.

“Wife got me a gym membership,” the other announced proudly.

When they saw me they inquired about my new year’s resolution and were surprised to hear I didn’t have one. The colleague with the brand new gym membership had obviously had his resolution made for him, although he insisted it was his idea. The other one talked about taking up running and asked my advice how to go about it. It’s a familiar seasonal topic: usually at this time of the year I get asked a lot how to start running. Few weeks later, when I inquire how it’s going, I get evasive answers; people look at their shoes, try not to meet my eyes. I know now not to press further; we just pretend this running-resolution talk never happened. There were years, when I was too eager to spread the gospel of running, when after my third question on how’s that resolution going colleagues started avoiding me. It’s not fun to drink coffee alone, so I stopped asking.

A couple of months later the gym guy was offering his membership to others. His resolution broke when he “pulled a muscle.” The running-resolution colleague stopped after two weeks. It was too hard.

So what is it about new years resolutions that makes them so easy to break? Maybe the answer lies in its definition: A resolution is a “formal expression of opinion or intention”. See what I mean? Both opinions and intentions are easily changed, or abandoned. That’s why, when someone asks me if I made a New Year’s resolution, I explain that I make goals, not resolutions. A goal is defined as the “result or achievement toward which effort is directed.”

Goals are much easier to achieve if they are concrete. For example, don’t set a goal to “become a runner” or “start running in 2015.” Instead, find a race – a 5k race would be great to begin – and register for it. If racing is not your thing, you can set a date – say, by the end of April – when you’ll be able to run 10k (insert your distance or time goal here) without stopping.

Here’s how to simply achieve your (running) goals throughout the year:

– set a goal in April (e.g. a race, distance, time or event)

– January through March create (or find) and follow the training plan

– April – (race, then relax and maintain. Use this month to enjoy your achievement and train only to maintain the gains)

– set a goal for August

– May through July – train for the August goal

– August – race (goal event) then relax and maintain

– repeat for the remainder of the year: set a goal for December and train toward it

Goals are easier to achieve when they are smaller and broken into parts. However, if one of them is a biggie, like running a marathon, tailor the smaller goals and the training toward it, but don’t neglect the relax and maintain phase – it’s important not only to rest your body, but your mind too. Finally, if your big event is early (like a marathon race in April), set another goal for later in the year, but set it now. It’ll keep you going through the post-race withdrawal phase most of us suffer.

Wishing you a merry Christmas, happy New Year and fulfillment of all your goals in 2015!

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