It’s way too early to quit…

January has come and (almost) gone, and for most of us that set New Year’s Resolutions, we’ve already quit. In fact, January 19th is called National Quitters Day for that very reason. 

So why is it that most of us fail at the resolutions we set?  Maybe there wasn’t a good enough reason for why we wanted to make the change in the first place.  Or maybe the reason was based on an external motivator rather than our own intrinsic values. 

Or maybe it was some big goal that was just too much to maintain.  Small daily habits, that you actually do, lead to the biggest change.  

I added weightlifting to my workout routine last May and I am still consistently doing it to this day, almost a year later.  Here’s how I did it: I made it so simple that it was really hard to come up with a reason not to do it.  I started with just 10 minutes per day, (almost) every day.  That adds up to 70 minutes of weightlifting per week which meets the recommendations by the experts, and it barely impacted my daily schedule.  I had dumbbells and kettlebells in my bedroom closet, I made a list of exercises for each muscle group and just rotated through them. 

And as you can imagine, with 9 months of regular weightlifting under my belt, I am stronger and noticing more definition.  And results are often the biggest motivator to keep moving forward. 

This year, I created a checklist to keep track of my progress for the things I need to do each day to reach my goals.  I have things related to all areas of my life on the checklist to remind me of what I want to get done. 

Now it’s your turn to start working towards your goals! I’m sharing my checklist with you here. Print it out, write in your action steps and get to it!  And remember, there is no need to be perfect.  I certainly missed some days of weightlifting last year and I certainly still had results.

And last tip, make sure to always include some fun within building better health!