A new – New Year’s Day

I would like to declare a new start to the year separate to January 1 and that is February 1.

Why? Because that is when the real new year starts. The children head back to school, businesses are back in full swing and the languid freedom of summer holidays starts to disappear from our immediate memories. Ok, getting a bit deep here I know, but you know what I mean right? We slip back into old routines and our commitment to those new year resolutions starts to fade as real life gets in the way.

My proposal is this – forget about resolutions made in January and get serious about February (and March and April etc). While those ideals we decided on in January are no doubt going to make us better people (and hopefully healthier) the reality of everyday life often means it is they are no longer realistically achievable. Reaching your goals is more often than not about setting them at the correct level to start with.

So, start to review your January resolutions and look at why they are no longer sitting high on your priority list. Is it because the time you were spending exercising early in the morning is now taken up with school lunch preparation? Or your after work time is filled with appointments and sport training for the offspring? Or have you fallen back into the old habit of having a glass of wine each night because you need to unwind after work? Suddenly the exercise and diet goals are getting shoved to next week again?

The key to success is often looking at your barriers and excuses. Do you have real barriers that block your ability to achieve or are you just making excuses? (No doubt they are damn fine excuses though!) I bet that 95% of your reasons are excuses that you use to justify breaking the promises you have made to yourself. You need to get serious and be totally honest with yourself. Better yet, come up with some strategies to use when the excuses next start rolling around in your mind.

For example: