by Jack Wilkins, Jacked +Health
      Happy 2017 everyone. It’s hard to believe that another year has passed, isn’t it? Every new year can be a new beginning and a fresh start.
      With the beginning of a new year, comes the planning and setting of new goals and resolutions that everyone will be looking to accomplish. So many times though, we end up falling short. We end up giving up and barely accomplishing anything towards the goal or resolution we set. We then forget about it and don’t think about it again until the next year. It’s not always easy to stay on track, but here are a few pointers and tips that can help keep things in line for you.
      One of the biggest problems with New Year’s resolutions is the size of the resolution or goal being set. So often we set a very large goal and plan on accomplishing it in a very little amount of time, when in reality it’s unreal. When we set goals we have to set them accordingly. It’s much better and goals are much more attainable if we set them according to cycles, specifically microcycles and macrocycles. Macrocycles are for the big goals and microcycles are for smaller goals to accomplish in order to get to the big goal.
      For example, if you want to lose 120 pounds, you can’t just say you will do it in 3 months, and then when it doesn’t happen give up. Give yourself a year. Breaking that down would have you losing 10 pounds a month. Breaking it down even further would have you losing 2-3 pounds a week. That looks and will feel much more attainable, and will have a much higher chance of being accomplished. No matter what, every goal is going to take work and time. You have to have goals to advance, and they have to require work in order to help us attain self-worth and achievement to keep moving on to the next level.
      Another reason that many times we fall short or don’t succeed is because we don’t have a plan. We set a goal but we have no means of getting there. I’ll stick with weight loss for an example. If we set a goal to lose 50 pounds, we don’t set a goal date and we don’t come up with a plan. We might just go to the gym and start working out as hard as we can and do everything without any rhyme or reason.
      Planning is a huge part of goal success. In order to lose 50 pounds, we have to figure out what we are going to do. How are we going to eat? How are we going to pace our workouts so that we aren’t absolutely miserable? Are we going to get enough sleep? When will we workout? For how long? How many days a week. We need to figure all of these things out because they are part of the plan we will need in order to achieve success. Planning helps to keep us organized, focused, and on track. It is a huge part of your path to succeeding.
      One more important thing to reaching your goals is consistency and accountability. There is no easy trick to consistency and accountability though. They are up to you and require you keeping yourself going. There will be days where you don’t want to stay on top of things, and days you feel like it would be easier to quit. But no matter what those days are going to pass and you will be at the next good day again where you will be motivated. Where you know you are doing what you need to be doing and accomplishing everything you need to get done. Just imagine if on the days you feel like quitting would it actually be worth it compared to the days when you’re motivated and excited to accomplish more?
      So as your making your new year goals, or if you already have them, try using and implanting these tips to help you succeed.
      Remember to get better little by little everyday, even if it’s just one percent. Because after so many days, that little one percent will be a very large percent, and that is when it will all be worth it.