The holiday season is over and the new year is underway. The local gyms are more packed than ever before, with wishful resolutioners kicking off the year, inspired and full of hope. But as January comes and goes and the months begin to pass, the gym reverts back to its regulars and that wishful thinking begins to fade. Why are resolutions so hard to keep? Why is it so hard to hold a diet or keep a new workout regime, when you desperately want to change? Dictionary.com defines a resolution as, “A decision to do something different or to behave in a certain manner” A resolution is deciding you WANT to do something different; however, nowhere in that definition does it explain how hard it is to actually do something different, or the steps you need to take in order to successfully do something different. In order to do something different, you have to create a habit and a habit is something that can only be created through repeatedly doing a new action correctly until it becomes involuntary.
The main reason New Year’s resolutions are likely to fail, is because we come up with big goals and we are disappointed when they are not achieved right away. We fail to realize that repetition and consistency of small change, is the key to accomplishing big, long term change. This New Year’s, I encourage you and your family to come up with SMART wellness resolutions. SMART is an acronym used for goal setting that was taught to me by one of my former coaches Tori Nyberg. Smart stands for: Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.
Specific – What do you want to accomplish and why is it important to you? Measurable – How will you know when this goal is accomplished? Attainable – Is this a goal I can actually achieve or is it too far stretched? Relevant – Is this the right time? Do I have the time, money, or dedication to accomplish this? Timely – How long will my goal take to be accomplished? How long am I willing to work at it?
10 SMART Wellness Resolutions that Can Be Done as a Family
- Eat dinner together at the table as a family every night.
- Get unplugged; make one night a week a no electronics night and play board games
instead. - Go to bed at the same time every night (Parents your sleep is important too. Make yourself a bed time and create a routine).
- Walk more. Take the stairs instead of the elevator/escalator.
- Cross off the toughest task off your to do list first. (Children can practice this too by starting with their toughest homework assignment first).
- Practice gratitude. Once a day talk about three things you are thankful for as a family.
- Save the sweets for after dinner and eat dessert in moderation.
- Cut out negative self-talk. Change vocabulary from “I don’t want to” to “What is this teaching me?”
- Make your bed every day.
- Be on time to every event (Dropping kids off at school, work, after school events, etc.).
