5 Tips to Maintain Your New Year’s Wellness Goals

The excitement of the new year is starting to wear off and you might be finding your motivation to fulfill your wellness goals wavering. There are certainly circumstances out of our control that might derail these targets, like life hiccups or behavior change efforts that take time, but there are also things we can control and themes I have consistently seen in those who stick to the goals that they set out to do that may help you on your journey.

None of these five tips may be earth shattering or new to you, but they may be a helpful reminder early on in the year to check-in and remotivate. You’ve got this!

1. Break Your Long Term Goal into Bite-Size Pieces

Breaking your bigger goals into smaller ones is a simple way to help set yourself up for success. Achieving little goals along the way to the big goal also feels good and keeps your momentum going.

Here’s an example: You signed up to run your first half marathon in the fall, your longest distance to date. Create a training plan that builds your mileage up slowly with a few smaller races to train for and look forward to along the way.

2. Use An Accountability System

Accountability can look like many things– a coach, personal trainer, group fitness class, workout buddy, Google Calendar alarms, fitness apps, workout forums, friends, or loved ones. There is no “right” one but having some sort of accountability system in place creates one more net to catch you when you slip up, encourage consistency, and keep motivation levels higher.

3. Be Intentional With Your Time

It’s important to remind yourself often that you are worthy of care and you deserve time for your health. Time is a limited and valuable resource, but we can use tools like a time log, reducing social media time, and managing distractions to help us prioritize our time better. Explore and find time management strategies that work best for you.

4. Find a Routine

Give yourself permission to learn. Part of finding a routine is experimenting to find out what does and doesn’t work. One strategy to try is pairing a habit you already have set in stone with a new habit: one good habit follows another. For example, if you have a morning cup of coffee, perhaps you pair that with your new goal to take a 30-minute walk while your coffee is brewing.

5. Practice Resilience

Motivation ebbs and flows and change is inevitable– we are human. My most successful clients know this, and while they might miss workouts or have unexpected life events happen, they don’t make a habit out of breaking their goals. They give themselves grace, practice gratitude, reach out for support, adjust their goals if needed, and get back into a routine. It’s also a good reminder that routines and goals can change and it’s okay to change them. A phrase I love to capture this? “Goals are t-shirts, not tattoos. They can be changed.

One of nature's tiny metaphors on resilience.

If you’re curious about how health coaching could support you with your wellness goals, I offer a complimentary 20-minute discovery call so you can ask questions and see if health coaching feels like the right fit.