Thoughts on New Year's Resolutions

As you have no doubt sat down to have a conversation with yourself recently and engaged in a little soul searching, here are 3 Tips from me to help you understand the New Year's resolution business in a better way:

1) Don't fret the crowded gyms.  Over the years, I notice the trend for drop-off rates at gyms, as I assume yours will be overly crowded in 2 weeks due to sales on membership rates and Resolutions.  Research is consistent in that 50% of all people that sign up for a membership at the New Year will drop out before June, but I will go so far as to say most of that will occur before Feb.  Convince yousefl that you have a leg up on everyone, in that we you a proper approach to exercise motivation and training, and will still be standing in June.  In the meantime, be patient with the masses.

2) Pride.  As the year draws to a close, be sure to soak up what you accomplished.   Instead of thinking immediately about race results, begin by thinking about your training.  I guarantee there were more battles won and obstacles overcome in your training than in your racing.  Remind yourself of some milestone(s) you hit this year, incredibly tough conditions brought on by Mother Nature that you overcame, or an inspired run you had when it was the last thing you wanted to do that day.  And yes, then think about the moments of elation you felt at certain finish lines.  A great way to boost your pride is to know there were certain goals or training accomplishments you achieved this year that maybe nobody else achieved.  Sound impossible?  Not really.  Think hard enough and I bet there are some unique things you did this year that should make you feel proud of yourself.  Inspire yourself!

3) Goals. Related to #2, what did you learn last year?  What worked well for you month after month that you should make a staple of your routine?  What is broken and needs fixing?  Write your goals down.  Most of these should be process goals...specific, measurable, and with due dates, all of which enable you to say definitively "yes or no, I did/didn't achieve the goal."  Goal setting can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it.  Either way, you must write your goals down.  Looking back at last year's process goals will help you form goals for the new year.

Train hard!

Mike