81% of New Years Resolutions are never successful.  Why is that? Motivation ? Idleness? Willpower? These are all quite negative viewpoints and in my view are not the main cause of failure. Read on to find out my views on why people fail to hit their activity related goals.

Expectations

Whilst it is good to set a big goal, too often we see people who have dreams of grandeur but then fail to set themselves any shorter more easy goals. This ultimately leads to dissatisfaction when that goal seems to far away and is not hit. Cure – set some easy goals as well as some more challenging.  It really doesn't have to be much even increasing your exercise levels a small amount can be massive. For example there is more evidence the health benefits of walking can be had walking with less than ten thousand steps a day.  Simply doing more is going to be better no matter how much more.  Doing something is better than nothing.

All or nothing Mindset

Many people have a setback or miss some sessions and then come to the decision they might as well give up. This black and white view is not helpful. There will of course be set-backs in your journey. My advice – accept them, it happens to every one.  See the setbacks as something to learn from and over time they will be less problematic.  As always I also encourage people to foresee any road blocks and plan for them. It is then much easier to deal with them when they do come up.   If you really are at the point of giving up question whether the goal was achievable for you.  One of the biggest reasons people give up is they just cannot see themselves being successful.  In this case revise the goals, you can set goals on other days than January the 1st.

Poor time management

We all live busy lives, time is often short. Work, social activity, family are all drains on our time and making progress on our own personal goals often comes lower down on the priority list. My advice here is to really plan your time and plot when you are going to work towards your goal. Speak with significant others so they are aware of your plans and can work around you. Stick to your plan but where this isn’t possible have back up plans already in the making.  Having a goal without a plan is just a wish.  Make sure you put the effort in to the planning and you will see you hit more sessions and more likely be successful. One further tip, write your plan down be it on a piece of paper, calendar, excel file or diary.  It forms a kind of contract and evidence again suggests you are more likely to see it through

Pain or injury

This comes in two forms. Firstly going in to an activity goal already injured or in pain. This often is a recipe for disaster especially when you don’t understand what is going on and how best to manage when exercising. The other form is doing too much too soon. Motivation is obviously high at the start of any goal but it is important to build up slowly. Our bones, joints, tendons, muscles, and ligaments don’t like fast change. Suddenly changing your activity levels can lead to pain and injury and this will commonly stop you hittig your goals. We see a lot of this in February.  Going out hard is rarely the best way.  If in doubt seek help, we are more than happy to speak to you.  You can contact us by clicking this link