New Years Resolutions

First a little quiz, courtesy Andy Andrews:  3 birds are sitting on a branch.  One bird decides to fly away. How many birds are left?  The answer is 3.  The bird decided to fly away, but he took no action.

So you've made a New Years resolution.  Well, whoopity doo!  Now what?  My suggestion would be 

1. Make a plan with solid goals.
2. Make a check point.
3. Adjust as needed.
4. 2-3 as needed.

1.  Make a plan with solid goals. For example, you want to lose weight.  Decent goal, but poorly defined.  You should make a plan. "I'm going Weight Watchers" ,"I'm going low carb", "I'm going to treadmill 3 times a week", "I'm going to ..".  It's been my experience that the plan itself  is less important than sticking to the plan.  Then, your goal needs to be better define.  "I need to lose 50 pounds"  "I need to lose 2 pounds a week"  You'll need both short term goals and long term goals. One good way set goals is to use the SMART criteria.

2.  Make a check point.  After 2 weeks, how is your weight?  Then 2 more weeks, then another month, etc.

3.  Adjust as needed.  After 2 weeks, you've lost 4 pounds.  That's pretty good, so keep going.  But what if you've gained weight or were flat?  Then adjust.  Move to 4 times a week on the tread mill, or switch from Weight Watchers to low carb.  

4.  2-3 as needed.  Hit your marks?  Then great, keep it up.  If not, readjust until it works.

One of my goals is to blog again.  I'll save the reasons why for another post.  

As with any advice, adjust to your needs.  Good luck with your resolutions.