How To Make New Year’s Resolutions That Will Actually Work

Now this article is certainly not to criticise anybody for their intentions or for trying their best.  But equally this article is also not going to be another one offering tips for 2025 that you’ve read a thousand times before, or that would take you 5 seconds to find on the internet with advice such as:

• Set Clear Goals:
• Break Goals into Smaller Tasks:
• Create a Vision Board:
• Develop a Routine:
• Stay Positive:
• Reward Yourself:
• Find an Accountability Partner:
• Reflect Regularly:
• Learn from Setbacks:
• Mix Things Up:
• Stay Healthy:
• Practice Mindfulness:
• Celebrate the New Year:

All of which is valid advice.

Yet why is it that for many people year after year, the above advice doesn’t work?

Why are we motivated for a week or two or even a day or two, but then the motivation passes and the ‘new year new me’, becomes a distant memory?

More importantly what can we do about it?

It starts with understanding 2 key elements:

1 – Understanding Yourself, & Be Kind

To you.  First of all, I must remind you that you are but a mere human being.  You will always have ups and downs and highs and lows, and that (I’m sure you’re very close), you are not perfect.  With that in mind, try and be nice to yourself about yourself.  Give yourself a pat on the back when things are going well and heading in the right direction.  Equally, try not to be too tough on yourself if you fall off the training and exercise wagon.

Take the lessons from the good and the indifferent and keep taking small steps forward.  Remember the saying that “there is no such thing as failure, only feedback”.

2 – Understand The Challenges

There are 3 key challenges we are faced with.

/ – There are many of us who don’t enjoy training & exercise – and often struggle to connect with the ‘rewards’ of training and exercise whilst we are participating in the moment, but also before heading to the gym.  When we are not connected to the rewards, it’s easy to replace training and exercise for something that our mind believes is far more rewarding.  That can include ticking off tasks from our task list that we tell ourselves are a “higher priority”, doing jobs we perceive have to be done “right now” or anything other reason to give yourself permission not to attend.  Achieving these important tasks gives us a blast of dopamine and we feel great for the very short term.  However, that’s soon replaced by feeling of guilt, self-loathing, and angst for our non-attendance.  As I always say – ‘short term pleasure = long term pain’.

// – We are busier than ever – trying to find the time to balance a family life, a career, running a home, and more.  Never mind finding time for ourselves.  In this fast paced and busy world, it’s not easy.

/// – Today’s solutions have become tomorrow’s problems – Modern day life is detraining an extremely crucial skill in pretty much all of us, and that is the ability to handle frustration.  We can purchase our latest gadget online fast; we can order food and have it delivered fast, and the world of technology means everything is instant and at the click of our fingers.  This however is not the case for your training and exercise results in the gym.  Your results take time, effort, and hard work.  Lasting change is something that will not happen overnight.

Putting all this together means it’s easy to forget our best intentions, or simply find something that is more important or more of a priority than training and exercise in the given moment, and then simply cancel.  The frustration from non-attendance builds, and before we know it the cycle of non-attendance continues, the negative feedback loop continues, and despite us not feeling too good in ourselves, the task at hand appears too great, and we quit.

But again, what can we do about it?

Because that’s enough of the doom and gloom (understanding all of this about yourself is a huge step forward in breaking this negative loop).

But also because I believe there is another solution.

And it’s a fairly simple one that will enable you to achieve everything you’ve ever wanted with your training and exercise goals.

And that is to search for a higher purpose.

By that I mean – to train for something that you perceive is more “important” than many of the things that take hold of your time each day.

I.E – a charity event.

Many charities have events that are linked to their fundraising.  So today, why not search online and sign up to raise some money for a charity that’s close to your heart?  Why not let 2024 be the year that you run your first 5k or 10k.  Or 2024 be the year that you cycle from Manchester to Blackpool or participate in any number of the other events that are out there in your local community.

I have seen first-hand the desire, drive, determination, commitment, and effort displayed by the participants each year in my annual charity event ‘Charity Boxing Nights’.  The participants have jobs, often have families, are busy and like many of us they don’t have much spare time.  I am sure there are also days when they are tired, don’t feel like it or are lacking in motivation.

But they have made a commitment.

Firstly, to themselves, as this commitment requires them getting super fit to compete and give themselves every chance of success.  The biproduct of their commitment is increased training and exercise sessions which will get them much closer to their overall goals.

But their commitment is to something much bigger and far greater than they are (in their mindset).

Their commitment is to the cause.

The charity they are competing for and raising money for.

And that overrides pretty much anything. Busy, tired, feeling achy or just don’t feel like it – it doesn’t matter as the cause is more important.

So much so that they don’t need to be motivated.

Instead, they are completely focused on what it is they must do, and they get it done.

I’d highly recommend you read the book ’Start With Why’ by Simon Sinek.  It’s an epic read and whilst some might say is for business goals, it can be adapted to any goals and targets in life (some good videos and talks are available online also).

To quote the book, our annual event gives our participants “their why”.

Because when they find their why, have connected with it, and then committed to it they can override fatigue or lack of motivation, and instead become relentless with their training and exercise.

The charity wins as you can raise some money (any amount is amazing no matter how big or small), and you will equally benefit by becoming the fittest, fastest, and strongest version of you.

I would encourage every one of you to explore having a higher purpose or your ‘why’ with your training and exercise in the new year. To consider participating in something that has deeper meaning to you.

When you do this, you can make a huge difference to others, as well as yourself.

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