Staring up at the momentous task before you can be slightly daunting.

New Year, new you, right?

Because after all,  it’s that time of year again – when millions of people look back on the last year and resolve to do a better job at sooo many things in the upcoming year.

AND

88% of people that set New Year’s resolutions fail.

But, what if there was more motivation than ever before? What if you knew this time you wouldn’t fail.

What would you resolve to do?

Eat healthier?

Spend less?

Pray more?

Spend more quality time with the people you love?

Run a marathon or write a book?

Some life changes seem daunting. Eating only green, leafy vegetables for the rest of my life is not exciting at all.

But fitting into a dress I couldn’t wear for two years is!

(I may have exaggerated my eating plan a little. But, you know the feeling.)

SO ~

I am about to change your life in 5 easy steps;

1) Set goals, not resolutions

Remember, a dream is a wish your heart makes, but it’s still just a dream. Until you make that resolution into a goal and set action steps to it you are going to be just another statistic. (88% to be exact.)

2) Have an end result/reward in mind.

Ex. ” I want to tone up, lose two inches, (5 lbs) to be able to wear my white capris by spring break.”

Every year I “want” to learn Spanish, but since I don’t have an end result to motivate me it never gets accomplished. It would be better if I wanted to learn for an upcoming trip. Hmmm, now I think I want to learn French!

3) Set up “bite size” steps toward accomplishing your goal.

Running a marathon is a great aspiration, but it may be smarter to start jogging 1-3 miles first.

To read or study more books I try and take in 2-3 pages in the morning or right before bedtime and I go through stacks of books in a year.

4) Recruit an accountability partner.

Tell someone your goal and the result you are trying to achieve, and have them check in on you. Even better, have them join you in accomplishing the goal. It is a lot more fun and the rewards are twice as beneficial!

That is exactly how I was able to run not one, but two half-marathons. I had a friend that set the goal with me and we met to run 2-3 times per week. We started with 3 miles and encouraged each other up to 15!

And most important of all –

5) Don’t let setbacks or discouragement cause you to give up.

When I was evaluating my past year, I began to get discouraged as I saw all that I hadn’t accomplished. My goals were a huge, mountain looming before me. More than anything I wanted to plant my flag of accomplishment on the  peak of that mountain.

I felt stuck.

Then I made a list of all that I had accomplished. So much of that list consisted of prerequisites for reaching that mountain top.

I got so excited! I may not have succeeded in accomplishing all my goals last year, but I didn’t give up. Now I was over halfway there! Finishing this year should be a breeze.

I am about to stretch myself with some mountain sized challenges, how about you?

Don’t be a statistic. 5 easy steps can change your year.

What are you waiting for?

Ain’t no mountain high enough to keep us from reaching our goals!

Love,

Pazazdance