Rituals, Not Resolutions

Raise your hand if you have a New Year’s resolution and feel like you’ve fallen off the wagon…

*sheepishly raises hand*

You had every intention of going to the gym every day, eating a big salad, meditating, not snacking, walking, taking your vitamins, practicing yoga, not drinking, becoming a lead guitarist for a band and getting signed for a recording contract overnight, losing 20 pounds the week before a beach vacation…your list goes on. You were off to a great start, but sometime during the past few weeks you were invited to watch football and had a beer or two and then ordered wings. The next day you felt under the weather so you skipped the gym and yoga. The day after that you thought, well the week is ruined so might as well make it a cheat week and start over again on Monday to start fresh after your friend’s birthday party which you will inevitably drink and eat lots of shared appetizers again.

Sound familiar? What’s wrong with this picture? 

The Resolutioner above went for an all-or-nothing approach to their goals. They aimed for perfection rather than aiming for better, which psychologically steals the joy out of transformation. Their perfection makes them view their 3-mile run instead of the planned daily 6-mile run as a complete failure instead of celebrating that despite a rough night of sleep, they got a workout in. This same person has the mindset that despite never playing an instrument in their life, they should be an instant expert after one try. If they’re not great at it, why even try at all?

They also took on too many tasks to complete at once. Trying to completely overhaul your lifestyle all at once isn’t sustainable, which is why most fad diets fail. The diets claim you can lose X number of pounds in 30 days if you do steps 1-20 daily, and behavior change just isn’t that fast. You wouldn’t expect your rescue puppy to immediately know how to go to the bathroom outside instead of on the carpet, not bark at everything that moves, and to stop biting on furniture that quickly, so why would a human change its ways that quickly? 

Instead of Resolutions, think of your goals as the sum of new rituals. Weight loss is a common “resolution” this time of year, so I’ll use that as an example. You may be tempted to do ALL THE THINGS to lose weight, and I’m not stopping you from trying to work out every day and avoid snacks, but think of one small thing you can focus on this week to move the needle. What new habit can you add or change to better your health? It could be as simple as drinking a glass of water instead of a soda each day this week, or adding a 20-minute walk to your morning instead of your usual Instagram scroll as soon as you wake up. Focus on the one thing for 1-2 weeks to create that habit before moving onto the next item on your list. 

Like an investment account, your small daily rituals will add up as deposits to your health and compound over time. That’s why a person who trains for a marathon not only picks up the habit of running daily, but also picks up better nutritional habits along the way. A person who wants to get better at a skill practices it daily for an hour instead of watching a TV show. 

When we create rituals to get to our goals instead of thinking we have to resolve something, we are no longer the “Jack/Jill of All Trades, Master of None”. We become the master of what we really want to master, and the rest is not worth your focus. 

You have nothing to resolve, just goals to annihilate! If you need help figuring out what rituals and habits to focus on to crush your strength and conditioning goals, send me a message.