Set New Year Goals That Will Actually Change Your Life
Follow These Four Steps
By
Matt Kay
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Have you ever set a goal with all the best intentions to make this year the year you make it happen but then it doesn’t quite work out that way…?
Me too!
Statistically 92% of us experience this same sense of ‘failure’ yet at the start of every year we repeat the same cycle only for it to end in, well… nothing.
There are many reasons why this happens but here are four steps that will get you closer to finding a new routine, and that will actually change your life.
What do you want and why do you want it?
Start broad: For example: Improve my fitness, reduce my body fat, get stronger.
Narrow it down: For example: Run 5k under 30 minutes, complete a half HYROX simulation under 45mins, go sub 20% body fat, lift 45kg bench press for 1 rep.
Put a time on it: Achieve my goal by 1st April 2025
This is important but very specific to you. The more emotionally you can connect your why to your wants the more likely you will stick to it; confidence, pride, adventure, challenge, focus, fulfilment, purpose, longevity, quality of life, mental clarity, focus, mind-body connection, happiness.
Once you have clarified what you want and connected deeply with why you want it, next you have to map out how to get it with methods.
If a fitness outcome is your ‘what’ then look at what needs to happen on a weekly basis for you to achieve it? Your weekly routine might look something like this:
2x BUILD sessions
8k steps per day
2x runs
Check out the running programmes we have available for free in our members area. To access go to our website https://www.fitism.co.uk/members-resources or the ‘Member Hub’ within the FITISM app.
If you have a strength goal the weekly methods might involve:
4x BUILD sessions
If you have a body composition goal the methods might include:
4x BUILD sessions
+ Protein target
+ Calorie target
Check out the Member’s Area on our website or the ‘Member Hub’ on the FITISM app for calorie bracketed plans, menus and recipe books to guide you.
Once you understand what weekly methods are required to make your wants a reality you now have to consider the daily actions required to get you there.
Schedule 2x BUILD sessions and 2x runs into your diary each week for the next 13 weeks
Make these sessions non-negotiable — turn up no matter what
Give it 100% every session
Start or end the day with a walk
Schedule 4x BUILD sessions into your diary each week for the next 13 weeks
Make these sessions non-negotiable — turn up no matter what
Tracking the weights you lift each session on the FITISM app
Progressively increase your weights up each week and work hard every session
Ask/use the FITISM Coaches to help you master the technique of the lift you want to improve
Every Friday (for example) plan your meals for the following week, write each meal up on a weekly food wall planner, do an online food shop to arrive Sunday morning (for example)
Prep your lunches/snacks for the week on Sunday (for example)
Remember to take your food out of the fridge when you leave for work every day
Once you get to this level I am a big fan of completely disconnecting mentally away from ‘what’ you want and to move all your emotional energy into ‘why’ you want it.
This might seem a bit odd, even a bit counter intuitive but hear me out…
In my 20+ years as a health and fitness coach I am yet to experience someone achieve success, contentment or happiness by obsessing about outcomes (weight loss, a 5k time etc).
Those that make it work and ironically those that are the healthiest, fitness, leanest, happiest are those that find a level of purpose and satisfaction in the process. Those who achieve the highest level of success in the game of health and fitness go so much deeper than surface level aesthetic rewards or times on the clock.
Health and fitness is a game you can’t win so don’t try. However, it is a game you can lose if you stop playing. Your goal is to stay in the game and the best way to do that is to stop pinning all your success on outcomes. Move your focus to inputs connected to purpose (why) and keep playing no matter the outcome.
Check in with your ‘why’ daily especially in the early days. Daily journaling, meditation, mindful breathing and walking can all help with this. I know some of you may snigger at some of these suggestions but if your personal health and fitness (physical and mental) is not where you want it to be this could quite possibly be your missing link.
Rather than seeing these things as being a bit ‘fluffy’ instead try viewing them as daily techniques (ideally at the beginning of the day) to move your ‘why’ to the top of your mind. By doing so will increase your chances of making the difficult choices to eat the apple instead of the cookie, or to go to the gym instead of staying in bed, a lot easier. And the longer you do, the easier it will become.
It could change your life.
Matt
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