Optimum setup for 2012!

Happy New Year folks,

Whatever you were doing, hopefully you all brought the New Year in with style! Now its back down to business & whether you’ve made official new year’s resolutions (NYR) or just got a few goals in mind, this blog post is essential for you - as mentioned in last weeks post.

The very thought of NYR often brings on negative thoughts as many people don’t reach them. Having goals is so important as it takes us forward; i.e. you wouldn’t jump in the car without knowing where you’re going or how to get there right? So if you’ve got some 2012 goals in mind then here’s how to set yourself up for success:

1)      Give yourself chance, just focus on 1 or 2 big goals at a time.

2)      Make this goal specific; i.e. rather than saying “I want to get healthier”, say “I want to increase my vegetable intake.”

3)      Make it measurable; “I’m going to eat 3 more portions of veg per day.”

4)      Make it achievable; “to do this I’m going to buy more veg from the supermarket.”

5)      Is it realistic? “Yes, I can prepare meals the night before incorporate veg for the next day.”

6)      Essentially, give your self a time frame; “I can make this stick by 2 months.”

If you can’t apply all 6 steps then you’re making it harder for yourself. Here I’ve used nutrition as an example, but apply these steps to any goal. Now after just 5 min, you have a strategy which will hugely raise your chances of success – try it. If it’s going to take more than 3 months to reach your goal, then break it down & use steps 2-6 to focus on short-term / medium-term components of your big goal (e.g eating regular meals, or trying out different veg).

Good luck with your goals & watch out for next week’s blog post as we’re getting back to workplace health.

james