| January 13th- Quitter’s Day |
| The 2nd Friday in January is known as “Quitter’s Day”, as it’s the day we’re most likely to give up on our new year’s resolutions. This year’s Quitter’s Day has very aptly landed on Friday the 13th, a day known for it’s unusual association with bad luck. The most common reasons for tapping out on resolutions include loss of motivation, lack of time, change of plans and “other”. (I think “other” might be my favorite reason lol.) Before we get into the why’s behind the high percentages of quitting, let’s check out some data. |
| New Year’s Resolution by the Numbers |
| 4000 years – how long folks have been makin’ and breakin’ resolutions. 38% of American adults set New Year’s Resolutions. 48% of resolutions include exercise. 70% of resolutions are related to physical health. The top 3 resolutions are typically: exercise more, eat better, lose weight. 64% of folks quit their resolutions by the end of January. Just 9% of people successfully keep their resolutions. 81% of resolutions are considered “fails”. Most people quit their resolutions on the 2nd Friday of January. |
| Why are so many folks giving up so soon? |
| If you’ve ever tried to make a big life change (or heck, even a small one) you know how hard it can be. The bigger the change, the more work required to make it happen. When I worked in corporate, management required every employee to set 3 yearly goals, which were then audited by our supervisors who would determine if our goals were SMART or not. SMART goals are ones that were: Sustainable Measurable Attainable Realistic Timed SMART goals are big business in Corporate America and there are entire careers and companies built around helping folks make, create and achieve SMART goals. If you take a look at that list, SMART goals look like boring corporate nonsense. There’s nothing big, wishful, creative, fancy or big dream in SMART. Sustainable…Measurable…Attainable…Realistic…Timed…BOOOORING. Here’s the thing. Over the course of 15 years, I hit every single one of my SMART goals. That’s a successful completion of 45 goals. SMART goals work. The power is in making things sustainable and realistic for your situation. Sustainable goals are ones that fit your current lifestyle. Not your ideal lifestyle. Not the lifestyle you wish you had or the lifestyle you’re working towards. The lifestyle you have RIGHT NOW. One of my favorite advices to give to folks asking how to maintain their fitness routines is that “10 minutes a day is better than 0 minutes a day”. Having measurable and timed goals is important, because it gives us metrics and data for what we are doing (you know I love data!) and it gives us a container within which to operate. Open ended goals tend to float in the winds of “someday”. Having an end time anchors us to the goal and provides a little more stability to work with. Attainable and realistic are probably the hardest pieces to reconcile, and after sustainability, this is where a lot of us lose traction. Setting attainable and realistic goals requires us to come back to Earth and truly assess where we are and what we can do in our given time frame. Can we actually really and truly make $1 billion this year with a startup that hasn’t started up yet? This is the humbling part of the SMART process that most of us hate. But it’s extremely important. |
| 2 minutes a day…12 hours a year |
| All of that to say we have very round-about-ly landed on my favorite talking point this month. It’s extremely pertinent after all of those depressing stats about quitting I just laid out above. So, y’all know I only give 2 minutes of balance work homework per day. Why? Because it’s so stupid easy, it’s SMART. 2 minutes a day is totally sustainable. No matter how busy you are, you can find 2 minutes to practice balance. 2 minutes per day is measurable. 2 minutes per day is attainable. Anyone can do this work for two minutes. 2 minutes per day is realistic. No matter what you have going on, 2 minutes is a very realistic time commitment. 2 minutes per day is timed. While the “timed” in the normal SMART goals is a little different, knowing we have just a 2 minute commitment per day makes it happen. Here’s something else really cool about 2 minutes of homework per day. Turns out, that just 2 minutes a day for 365 days actually ends up being 12 hours a year. 12 hours! Wild right? Get this. Doing something every day for 4 minutes a day is 24 hours a year. So next time you’re thinking those small things aren’t worth doing or don’t bring much value, think again. If you were ready to jump off the resolution wagon, take a moment and think SMART. How can you apply SMART to your resolutions and make them happen? Do you need to be a little more realistic? Add a timed component? Dial in on the sustainability? |
| My 1000 year challenge |
| If you’ve been wondering what my SMART goals for 2023 are, I am having a 1000 year challenge. This year, as a family, we are joining the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge. Each of us will be tracking our outside time with the goal of 1000 hours each. At the same time, I will be aiming to return to my running roots and log over 1000 miles on the trails this year. 😀 |
| Good luck, happy SMART’ing! Feel free to shoot me an email if you want to talk further SMART goals. – Rubecca |