Alright everyone lets focus on January now!

What are your goals for this month?

How did you do last month over the holidays?

Below is the last 3 months of comments with previous goals posted. Click on each month to learn and reflect on experience to spring you for success in the future.

Lets make this the highest number of responses for goals…EVER!

–December Goals (12 responses)
–November Goals (21 responses)
–October Goals (8 responses)

Writing a contract with yourself can help you meet health goals that you might otherwise put off.

Twenty years ago a smoking, overweight patient might waddle into the doctor’s office and wheeze, “Doc, I don’t feel right. Can you prescribe something?” The patient would walk out clutching a vial of pills–uppers to burn up calories, maybe downers to relax.

Today the health care profession is encouraging us all to take more responsibility for our own well-being. A doctor is more likely to put the prescription pad away and say, “Lose weight, stop smoking, exercise and get a good night’s sleep.”

Fine. But where do we go from there? How do we motivate ourselves to stop smoking, to end our deep commitment to chocolate and to run around the neighborhood? We know that good health relies on good habits. Now we need the right tool to help us build them.

Health care professionals and their patients around the country have discovered that “self contracts” can be successful in encouraging habit changes. By signing such a contract with ourselves–stating the objective, the time allowed to achieve the goal, and the rewards and punishments–we take a businesslike approach to being healthy. (I like to call it, taken a professional approach to your health and fitness)

“Usually written with the help of a doctor, nurse or friend, self contracts are a great way of helping patients take an active part in their health care,” says Nancy Smith, coordinator of the Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Colorado. “Self contracts help you pick out incentives for building good health habits and punishments for failing. They also help you anticipate and avoid harmful thoughts and actions that will knock you off the track.”

Rules:
-State the goal/objective (as many as you like)
-Empose penalities for breaking the contract: The punishment must fit the crime. The more serious your goals are to you, the penalty should be that serious
-Reward for hitting your goal

A man once said, “To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.”

A very true statement in most cases, unless you have good habits. The lives of humans are consumed by process of routine.

From the moment we wake up in the morning to the time we go to bed, most of us are ruled by the practices we have developed. Webster defines the word as: a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance. The second definition is: an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary. Good tendencies are more difficult to develop, it seems, than bad ones; whereas bad tendencies are more difficult to break than good ones. This is all a matter of perception.

Taken from: http://habitsandgoals.com/

For each of your 3 to 5 Resolutions you made yesterday post to comments:
-An old unsuccessful habit that prevented you from achieving your goal.
-Directly followed by your new successful habit that will help you achieve your goal.

Now we are getting somewhere:-)

In the spirit of closing out the year of 2009 lets start setting the good ol’ New Years Resolutions.

What is a New Years Resolution?

The definition is wikipedia: “A New Year’s resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous.”

In the United States, popular goals include:
Lose weight
Get out of debt
Become more organized
Maintain a diary
Save money
Improve grades
Get a better job
Get fit
Eat right
Get a better education
Drink less alcohol
Quit smoking
Reduce stress
Take a trip
Volunteer to help others
Be less grumpy
Be more independent
Learn something new (such as a foreign language or music)
Try to get up early in the morning
Time management
Help the poor

What about the success rate?

Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, a system where small measurable goals are used (lose a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.

So let’s here it guys. Post 3 to 5 (minimum) New Year’s Resolutions. And let’s all hit them TOGETHER!