By: Treneice McNeil- Staff Contributing Ambassador & Writer
As we enter the winter season often, we begin to reflect on the type of year we’ve have. We then start compiling a sometimes-lengthy list of “goals” we will meet in the upcoming year. Once our list is compiled, we set a start day of January 1. We then convince ourselves that the remaining months of the year will get all the bad habits out and we will be ready to start being disciplined, consistent, and structured at the beginning of the year.
But What if waiting only adds more behaviors to change, and what if we don’t just miraculously develop the skills to be disciplined, structured, and consistent. What if January 1 comes and we don’t even know where to begin. This can lead to disappointment and failure before you even begin.
As a health and wellness professional I will be the first to tell you that the skills needed to change behaviors take time and require practice. If it were already natural for you to do the behaviors needed to meet and maintain your goals, you would be doing them already. No one chooses to not practice behaviors that are good for them. Initially you will be motivated but that will quickly wear off and that’s when the trouble starts. Those old behaviors creep back up and next thing you know 6 months has gone by and you are starting the processing of planning to start January 1 of next year again.
SO instead of waiting for a magic date, START Now. Give yourself time to practice, make mistakes, fall off, and get it right for the next couple months. When January 1 gets here you will have a ton of knowledge around what works and doesn’t work for you specifically. You can then focus on meeting your goals in a timely fashion and not be discouraged when the motivation isn’t as high as it was initially. You will be starting with knowledge and baseline skill that you can then continue perfecting.
The chances of you meeting your goals will be much higher. This will lead you to meeting more and more goals. You will then be naturally skilled at being consistent, disciplined, and structured which are the bases of obtaining and meeting any goal you set for yourself.
Treneice McNeil is a mother of two beautiful young girls, an ACE certified personal trainer and owner of CUTIE FITNESS LLC. CUTIE is an acronym for Courageous, Uplift, Triumph, Inspire, and Encourage. treneicemcneil@cutiefitness.com