Our most recent seminar at Cultivar Health was our most popular ever with 45 members attending on 2 January 2021. We called it “New Year New Me”, and we helped our members set goals for the new year that would actually stick.

The fact of the matter is, only 8% of people who make new year’s resolutions actually achieve them, and 80% fail by February. We are almost half way to February; are you still working towards the goal you set for yourself?

Why do I fail to achieve goals I set for myself?

We usually set goals when we are feeling motivated, which is why the first day of the year is so popular. We are motivated because we are well rested on holidays, we feel that we have been gifted a fresh start by opening a brand-new calendar, and we are feeling that we have overindulged over the holiday break.

But motivation is a fleeting tool. The people who succeed do not rely on motivation – they put systems in place for when motivation inevitably fails.

Successful people also know that life can very quickly derail their grand plans, and they make a strategy for when that happens.

How can I set a bulletproof goal?

1.       Set yourself only one goal. Research shows that if you try to change only one habit at a time, you have an 80% success rate over the year. If you increase that to two habits at once, your success rate drastically drops to just 35%. If you add in a third goal, you have only a 5% chance of succeeding. Give yourself the best possible chance of success by naming only one goal.

2.       Make it measurable. If your goal is “lose weight”, how do you know when you’ve succeeded? What is success to you? 1kg? 10kg? You must choose a goal that can measure success for you, like “lose 5kg by 30 June 2021.”

3.       Set up your environment for success. For example, if you have a glass of wine every night and you’d like to change to only drinking on Fridays and Saturdays, move your alcohol to a closed cupboard. If you continue to display your alcohol next to your fridge but you you are going to the fridge multiple times a day, you are relying on your willpower. Save your willpower and move the alcohol.

4.       Name your action steps, barriers, and how to overcome those barriers. My action step for losing 5kg by the end of June may be to eat vegetables twice a day (sound too easy? Try it for seven days!). A barrier to me doing that may be that I like to eat take out on weekends. How I will overcome that barrier will be by eating vegetables for breakfast and lunch on weekends and allowing myself to enjoy take out for dinner. There is no motivation or will power required here – I have already made my plan and I don’t need to battle with myself every weekend.

5.       Be accountable to someone else. You want to do this alone, but you’ve tried that before. Share your goal with someone who will call you out if you order take out for lunch on Saturday. It can be a partner, roommate, friend or family member. Or, it can be a coach! You can have your very own personal coach at Cultivar who will help you achieve your goals in exercise, nutrition and stress management.

Do it now

This exercise will only take you five minutes, so why not do it now?

If you’re still feeling stuck, get in touch here. Our team have helped clients lose weight, gain weight, change their mindset and achieve unthinkable physical goals. You don’t even need to be a member of our gym; you just need to want to make a change!