After the close of the holiday season, people often feel the urge to get back on track with multiple goals — especially their health. The real key to success with new health goals is not about specific resolutions, per se, but your mental attitude; your willingness to welcome change paired with the desire to make it happen.

Simple Tips that Get Results

If you’ve decided that now is the time to get back on track with an exercise routine, create health goals that are realistic physically, but also include a built-in level of compassion. That means making sure goals are a bit of a challenge, but not so hard or beyond your current capabilities that you torture yourself to reach them.

As you plan your goals, it’s also important to check in with how you feel about your current body image. Both men and women choose to “up the game” with their health because of the emotional response they have to how their body looks physically. This often leads to making hasty, forced goals in response to personal disappointment in physical appearance. As a result, health goals are based on negative thinking, rather than the inspiration for better overall health.

Be willing to accept yourself where you are at as a statement of fact. Then develop goals and strategies that move you forward with an honest and realistic frame of mind.

Remember not to judge yourself, beat yourself up or make yourself wrong. Take time and patience to build a new way of living day-by-day that is not only achievable, but enjoyable! If you make things too hard, you’ll just give up or injure yourself before you even really get started.

So, where to start? Consider the cornerstones of successful health strategies.

• Is what you are doing measurable?
• Are the strategies and goals something you can take action on immediately?
• Do your goals and strategies include things you can realistically accomplish (leaving specific time frames out of the equation)?
• Is it possible to scale things down or modify if challenges arise?
• Are you committed to making health changes part of your life routine?

By starting with these core areas, you will create clear, simple goals that match your specific needs and sustainable for the long-term. Just remember, pushing hard from day one does not bring the desired results faster, and can often lead to injury. Check out our next post on injury and pain management, and how to be mindful of your spine as part of your overall health plan.

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