Now that it’s officially the new year, what are your New Year’s resolutions? If you would have asked me this a few years ago, I would have listed off a bunch of drastic resolutions along the lines of “I will completely cut out all junk food, I will work out every day, I will lose 50 pounds, I will be rich, and I will have clear skin.” This all-or-nothing goal-setting led my resolutions to last all of two weeks. The reason why these resolutions were unrealistic was because of how drastic the changes were in such a short amount of time. Real change happens in consistent baby steps; in the small, manageable goals that eventually add up to an overall drastic change. It’s very hard to go from a couch potato to working out every day in one fell swoop. It’s much more attainable to go from a couch potato to going to the gym or on a walk once a week. Then, once that becomes the new normal, set a new baby step goal. Now it becomes going to the gym or on a walk twice a week. Soon enough, you will be working out every day and able to maintain it. Baby steps enable you to maintain and accomplish larger goals without becoming paralyzed by the mountain in front of you. It also encourages you to celebrate small wins that will fuel you to continue on with the climb. If your mindset is “if I don’t lose 50 pounds by the end of the year I’ve failed my resolution” you may miss out on celebrating the smaller wins. Celebrate each pound lost, one by one and soon enough you’ll find the inspiration to reach your end goal. The same goes for any other resolutions or longer-term goals you might have whether it’s buying a brand new car, a house, or quitting a bad habit. Instead of focusing on the huge end goal, focus on the small baby step goals to reach it.
One great example of when I’ve successfully used the baby step method was the season I ran cross country in high school. To clarify, I am no runner. I am big-boned and large-chested, making running very physically uncomfortable. I hate running and running hates me but I was determined to get in shape. If I would have started out trying to run a 5K, I would have experienced paralysis, quit on site, given up, or passed out. Instead, our cross country coach set up a schedule in which there were progressive running goals. The goal of the first week was to run 5-10 minutes at our own pace each day. The goal of the following week was to run 15-20 minutes at our own pace each day. Soon enough, we were running between 30 minutes – 1 hour every day. Eventually, after all of this conditioning, I was able to run a 5K without walking and without ending in last place (my only two goals of the season). This is proof that the baby step method works to achieve larger goals and resolutions.
In conclusion, large goals and resolutions can be overwhelming and paralyzing, either making it hard to get started or causing us to dive in gung-ho. Going all in leads to burnout because massive changes are hard to keep consistent (plus we love comfort and have a tendency to revert back to old habits). By taking small baby steps, you allow yourself to adjust to a slightly new normal each time, eventually reaching the desired outcome. Now go formulate those baby steps and get crawling!