10 Proven Tips for Keeping your New Year's Resolution

1. Make it a realistic goal.
Planning to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week might not be exciting, but it is
more likely to be successful than planning to lose 30 lbs in 3 weeks; and
then gaining it all back.

2. Make sure the goal is meaningful for you. Don’t say you will lose weight
to please your husband or wife. You have to want to do it for yourself.

3. Focus on short term goals
- Plan to exercise 3 times a week for a month, and then it will become a
habit

4. Create a plan to succeed and write it down
- research shows that goals that are written down have a 90% greater
chance of succeeding than those merely discussed.

5. Wire yourself for success. If you are planning to lose weight, start off
by eliminating fatty snacks and sweets from your cupboards and
fridge. Start shopping with a diet list in your hand when you do your
groceries.

6. Your thoughts create your reality.
The average person has 60,000 – 80,000 thoughts per day, 87% of them are
negative and most of them are the same thoughts you had yesterday Don’t
let an old habit of negative and self-critical thoughts sabotage your
efforts. Become more aware of the thoughts you are thinking.

7. Create a back-up plan to deal with slips and setbacks.
Mistakes can be opportunities for learning. If you have a slip, ask
yourself what kept you from achieving your goal and then try to make
corrections. Everyone has slips, but if you see it as a temporary
situation, you can learn from it and then get back on track easily.
8 Be persistent! It does pay off. It’s not about how many times you
started smoking again, it’s about persisting until you finally stop it
completely. That is how success is measured.

9. Find a buddy; someone who has the same or a similar goal. He or she can
be your coach and you can be his or hers. It is often easier to stay
motivated when you have a friend monitoring your progress and supporting
you, than when you are on your own.

10. Don’t wait to be in the mood or motivated in order to get started. Get
started first with a plan and the motivation will follow. Once you
initiate even the smallest of actions, you create a momentum and will
find yourself increasing your action a little every day. For example,
start off with a 10 minute walk today, and increase it 5 minutes every
day until you reach 30 minutes.

Recognize that a little success is success as well. Resolutions are accomplished by making small changes along the way. Acknowledge these small successes, go easy on yourself, and learn to enjoy the ride.

Happy New Year
Rhonda Rabow, M.A.
RERabow@aol.com
www.helphelpmerhonda.ca
www.rhondarabow.com
514-697-6070