I won’t bother quoting you the statistics, but my best educated guess is most of our new beginning goals are now tucked away in a notebook or digital notepad. My question is, how much do these goals still matter to you? Do still want to live healthier and be happier? If so, don’t give up after a slow or faulty start! Too often we succumb to the fallacy of thinking in terms of all-or-nothing. The antidote is flexibility with self and breaking goals down into smaller, more workable pieces. If going to the gym every day seems overwhelming, try three times a week this month. If that is still too lofty, try doing some simple workouts on the living room floor.

In working with clients, I often find the value behind the goal gets lost in the goal itself. We live in a “go big or go home” culture but how often to set our sites so high they become unreachable and we just end up passively putting off our goals until they become nothing more than words on a paper or screen. If your New Year’s desire is to go to the gym more, it may be helpful to consider the underlying value of the goal. If your specific value can be expressed in the statement “I want to be more active because I care about my health” and the value is made the focus, we may find it easier to practice flexibility with self and break down the goal into more manageable pieces.