First of all, I would like you to think back to this time last year. Did you set any New Years resolutions? Any summer goals?  And if so, what were they? Did you join the gym? Were you going to lose some weight? Were you going to eat healthier?

And now think about how your goals fared over the year? Did you keep up going to the gym? How does your weight now compare to then? And what HAS changed in your diet?

I know many of us set New Year’s resolutions every year, hoping to improve our health, our fitness and our weights. And often we go along with the crowd, feeling like we SHOULD set some healthy goals because sure, everyone else is setting them as well.

But more often than not, by the end of the year, our health, fitness levels and body weights have seen little change. So why is this? Why do we find it so hard to make positive changes for our health?

The missing key may be getting your motivations in check before even setting your goals!

Knowing your motivations to make a change are what can make or break your resolution. Yes, we all want to get fitter, faster, slimmer and stronger. We all want to look our best at a work party. We all want to have more energy and have skin that glows and we want it all without very much effort. But research shows that without truly knowing your motivations to make a change, you are unlikely to make the change into an actual habit.

And with “knowing your motivation”, I do not mean the generic “fitter, faster, stronger” we are told by the media to strive for. I want us to delve a little deeper. I want us to find motivations that make sense to us. 

Let’s try a little exercise to help you find out what your motivation is.

First, I want you to write down some of the concerns you have about your current exercise levels and your current food habits. If you continued with these habits, how would you feel this time next year? How would you look in 5, in 10, years from now? How will these habits affect your health as you grow older? And how do they affect your confidence, or your energy levels?

Feel free to take a few moments and write down some of your thoughts.

Now, if you improved some of your exercise and nutrition habits this year, what would change, what would be different? How would you feel? How may your health have been affected? Would you look any different?

Again, take some time to write down notes. What may have changed this time NEXT year if you made some healthy changes THIS year?

Now consider all your thoughts. Think of the positives and negatives of changing, and not changing. You know that making changes in your exercise and food habits is tough, and some effort will be required to follow through with your goals. However, now thinking about all that you have written down the past few minutes, would having made the changes been worth the effort?

If your answer is yes, you are one step closer to following through on the resolutions we will help you set this year!

I have created a great blog series to help you on this journey, from learning to set goals, to creating healthy habits and finally putting your plans into action!

Let us know how you are getting on, and share your thoughts on the exercise today!

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