Beginnings
Beginnings are easy. It’s middles that are hard.
Take your typical New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier, get fitter and run faster in 2025. Setting goals like these, with the energy and excitement of a New Year promising a new you, is a piece of cake. But how are you getting on now, one week in, as we approach the middle of the month?
If you have given up already, you are not alone. According to research by the University of Scranton in the US, a staggering 92% of all New Year’s resolutions fail. If you want to be part of the 8% that succeed, you need to get better at middles and focus on plans not goals.
Visualise plans not goals
Your plans should be specific and realistic. Visualise your new behaviours in as much detail as possible. What time of the day will you work out? Where will you go? What will you say when someone offers you a drink in the middle of Dry January?
If you can visualise some specifics and rehearse them, you stand a much better chance of success. Be realistic about what you can achieve as well. If you’ve not run for years, you are not going to finish a marathon by the end of the month. Walk before you can run, or else you are setting yourself up for failure.
Support and enjoyment
Middles last a long time, so before you make your start make sure you have support along the way. Don’t try and do everything on your own. Buddy up with someone who will encourage you and hold you accountable. A good friend won’t berate you for making small mistakes, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you fall off the wagon once or twice. Dust yourself off and jump back on again. Do not let perfection be the enemy of good.
Above all, find ways to enjoy the process of working towards a faster and fitter you. Don’t obsess with outcomes like losing weight, but instead enjoy moving your body more in athletic ways and eating nutritious food.
Let your plans take care of the middles and the outcomes will take care of themselves.
