Every year around late December, early January fitness writers and trainers feel compelled to create a revolutionary idea for motivating people to train starting January 1. Why not? We have typically let ourselves go since Halloween with extra treats in the house, stressful work and school schedules, a Thanksgiving feast, football tailgaters, too much time in the man-cave, and so many parties in December that it is time to do something now or go buy new clothes that fit. This is the perpetual cycle that occurs annually with many of us, but instead of hoping to be motivated for a few weeks in January, how about practicing a daily dose of discipline.

Resolutions, Goals, Intentions…Who Cares What You Call It - Get Moving

A sample of a few of the annual challenges to get moving again can be viewed here with one of my favorite New Year articles that posted a new challenge every month of the year. Twelve Months of Fitness – was my attempt last year and creating a “different” kind of New Year’s Fitness article.  Changing the goals and focus each month allows for a variety of elements to be considered with making a lifestyle change.  These additions to training and living keep things fresh and help with keeping motivation higher, but the long-term success will eventually require discipline.  In fact, motivation has to evolve into discipline for any of this to work.  There are even follow up articles on the topic to see how people are doing after Week 3 of New Year Workout.

Some others include:  To Make a Resolution of Not – was also an attempt at trying to push people to create a goal with intentions as we tend to never even use the word “resolution” by late January.  Setting goals with specific sub-goals works for some and helps to maintain discipline when most people start to fall off the wagon.  Unfortunately, most people fall off the wagon but look to get back on again in March (Spring Time) just in time for Summer.

Discipline Makes It Work

New Year’s Resolutions That Worked – was a report I did on people who were still on track with starting their fitness in January a full year later.  If you notice the trend, these successes were linked to starting off slowly, trying a few changes and being disciplined about them from just drinking more water and stop drinking sodas, to learning a new activity like swimming for instance.  Finding something and getting disciplined to change a bad habit into a good habit is key to success with anything in life – not just your health and wellness.  Regardless, finding something good and new to you will help you get rid of something old and bad for you.  As the saying goes – “You are two habits away from succeeding – one you have to start and one you have to quit.”

There is no shortage of New Year’s Resolution articles out there, if that is what you are looking for, you can find plenty.  My advice is to pick one new idea and get moving TODAY. Even if it is just drinking more water and starting to walk 10 minutes after every meal, these daily events will be the catalyst for great year for those who are seeking to get healthier. But as mentioned in this post several times, it is DISCIPLINE that gets you through the tough days.  Yes, your January Motivation has to evolve into February Discipline to make fitness and health work for you.  From here it is a constant battle with your inner voice, energy levels, and time in the day to get something done that you can count as a positive addition to your life and health. 

My advice – “Don’t Listen to Yourself – Talk to Yourself.”  Tell yourself you have an appointment with YOU.  Make it happen and do something physical.  Tell yourself to get up early and do it. Tell yourself not to eat unhealthy food and have better options prepared.  Tell yourself to drink water – all day and keep a large glass by your side.  In the end, this whole challenge comes down to a very simply concept that is easily written and said than done:  Move More – Eat Less – Sleep Better – Less Stress.  If you can do these four things you will see massive progress.  Even if you can only do a few of them at a time, you will see noticeable progress. But in the end, to be healthy, move better, feel better, and improve your life, these four elements have to be part of the daily disciplined activities.

Related Motivation Articles:

• Daily Motivation Builds Mental Toughness
• Fitness Motivation (Top Reason to Train)
• Motivation to Serve
• Fitness Motivation (Plan B)
• Getting Moving – Stay Motivated

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