Several years ago I had an important insight. January is NOT the best month to start work on New Year’s resolutions.

It was November 2012 when I decided to try a different approach to New Years Resolutions. The thing that was missing from my life at that time, was a consistent exercise regime. Like all of us at one time or another, each year I would fall victim to the New Year’s Resolution trap. In the week leading up to New Year’s, I developed my goals for the following year and among them were usually some aggressive fitness goals.  However, I found that when January 1st came, when I was supposed to begin work on the goal, I didn’t have any momentum or motivation to even start the goal, let alone be successful, because, like everyone I had just spent the last month or so otherwise indisposed to holiday feasting. The toughest part of any journey is getting started, and when the journey is challenging, getting started is that much harder.

Something had to change. I decided to start my New Year’s Resolution Goals two months early in November. Instead of joining a gym, as many often do at the turn of a new year, I decided that I would workout at home using workout videos as my guide. I did this to avoid the overwhelm, intimidation, and cost of a gym – and so that my fitness program wouldn’t be a game of trial and error.  Wouldn’t you know that the simple shift of two months made all the difference?   Because my workouts were predetermined and doable, I was able to develop the habit of consistency, so now I had motivation.  And because I had the motivation, I made great progress, so now I had momentum. I went into the holidays that year from a position of strength, literal strength, as opposed to trying to attempt the same fitness goal (like I did year after year) from a position of weakness after the holidays. So I was able to resist that second helping of sweet potato pie, and I even felt motivated to have a little more salad on my plate that year.

That decision made a huge impact on my physical health.  Six years later I am absolutely passionate about health, fitness, and good food; my health numbers are spectacular for someone of my age, and I’m in as good of shape as I was when I was at 20. In fact, my own doctor, now asks MY advice on what I’m doing for my workouts. So, I’ve stopped working on my New Year’s Resolutions in January, because for me that approach has rarely been successful. Now, I start on all my goals well BEFORE the holidays, so that I can get over the inertia of getting started, make great initial progress, and develop a ton of momentum – thereby fueling my motivation and habits to accomplish my goals and enjoy the holidays in the process.
So for me, it seems New Years is coming a little early.

I would like to leave you with a challenge, ask yourself if the typical early January start date has worked for you in the past for your goals. If it has, great! Keep doing what you’re doing. If not, perhaps this is a good time to consider a new habit, before the holidays begin.

Happy New Year!

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