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Set Realistic Expectations to Achieve Your Goals for 2010
by Josh Sato,
Personal Trainer

At the start of each year, many people set goals or resolutions that often end in failure. While they mean well, quite often their goals are overambitious, unrealistic, or simply ridiculous. If you're like most people, many of your New Year's resolutions are related to health and fitness goals including losing weight, quitting smoking, eating better or starting a workout routine. If you want to be successful, it's crucial to make sure these goals are ambitious, yet realistic.

When beginning a New Year's resolution, it is important to look at both the short-term and long-term goals. The first rule in developing your resolution is to break down your big goals into smaller ones and reach them one at a time. For example, if an individual decides he or she wants to lose 50 pounds by the end of the year, it can become very discouraging, even while making progress, to think about actually losing so much weight. However, if we break down the goal of losing 50 pounds in a year into a smaller and more attainable target by looking at it as a monthly goal, losing 8 pounds per month seems much more tangible.

Another key factor in making your resolution a success is to be honest with yourself. Many people say to themselves each year, "I'm going to start working out! I'm going be at the gym everyday and do whatever it takes!" While this is a great attitude, is it practical for you? For many of us, it is not. Most people have jobs, families, and a plethora of other activities they would rather spend their time doing than exercising.

Especially for people who are not used to exercising regularly, it is much better to set a goal of getting to the gym 2-3 days a week than to say they are going to work out everyday, right off the bat. By setting a smaller, achievable goal, it becomes much more attainable-not to mention a great way to start getting a lot more activity in than they were before.

Finally, and most importantly, it's important to maintain enough self-discipline to reach your goals! Formulate a plan that is both aggressive and realistic to help you succeed, and make sure to follow it! Whether it is losing weight, exercising, or maybe just exercising more frequently-there is no better time to start than now. Make 2010 the year you decide to change yourself for the better!