Your 2023 goals: 5 steps to realize your New Year's resolutions for real

The power of habit

Who doesn’t know them, the good New Year’s resolutions that usually dissolve into nothing within a few days? It doesn’t matter whether they are sporting or personal resolutions: resolutions rarely seem to work out that well.

In a 2019 statistics survey on the subject of New Year’s resolutions, 3% of respondents in Germany said they would throw their resolutions overboard again after just a few hours. After just under two months, most of them throw in the towel.

We’ll tell you some tips on how you can manage to stay true to your resolutions.

Clearly, if you want to keep a resolution, you have to make the behavior you are aiming for a habit. The long-term goal is to make resolutions part of yourself. They need to become a part of your lifestyle.

If you manage to make the habit part of your subconscious, you’ve won the game.

The subconscious acts out of habit, intuitively, instinctively and just unconsciously. It has been proven time and again, and is neurobiologically sound, that the subconscious plays a major role in determining our behavior.

Here we tell you concrete methods how this can work:

Keeping New Year’s resolutions – a step by step guide

Name the goal concretely

The first step that will help you keep your resolutions is very simple and at the same time crucial. Why?

Well, you often hear the resolution “I want to exercise more” or “I want to read more.” However, these are very broad resolutions. “Doing more sports” is a very vague and at the same time big goal.

If you turn that resolution into a more specific goal, you’re a little more likely to stick it out.

This would be possible, for example, by choosing a specific competition for which you want to prepare. Or set a specific time you want to work toward in 2023.

Turn the big goal into a mini goal

Resolutions are often not kept because they are too big and too difficult to implement. You can avoid this mistake by turning big goals into so-called mini-goals.

Mini goals are not as overwhelming and thus simply easier to implement. However, make sure you also set realistic mini-goals or they will lose their impact.

If you haven’t laced up your running shoes for a long time before, and you plan to run a (half) marathon in six months, you will probably fail.

For example, a better goal would be to run 15-20 minutes three times a week for the time being. And then increase the target step by step.

Create a SMART goal

Goals that meet the SMART criteria are easier to meet.

Thus, resolutions should be specific, measurable, attractive, realistic and timed – SMART in fact.

If a goal meets all these criteria, it has the advantage that you have a target line in mind – e.g. the end of January. At the same time, you have less room to make excuses. Running for 15 minutes is a very specific goal, there is little room for ifs and buts.

So a SMART goal might be: By the end of January, I want to run 15 minutes three times a week.

Think about suitable triggers

In a stressful everyday life with many professional and private to-dos, it is often difficult to get up the nerve to do something still unfamiliar and new. Therefore, it is helpful to think of a trigger. This has the advantage that you don’t have to think long about when to implement a project.

This is how you avoid constant procrastination, for example. Everyone knows thoughts like: “Just answer this mail, then I’ll go for a run”. But now the mail is packed with tasks you have to do. So you think to yourself, “just create this one more concept and I’ll go running!” So the spiral goes on and on until it is finally too late to go running.

That’s why it’s important to find a concrete trigger, which virtually starts your habit.

For example: Always after the mail comes, I lace up my running shoes. Or: After I take the kids to school, I go for a run.

That’s just an example – everyone knows their own daily routine best here. As mentioned above, it is simply a matter of getting into the habit.

If the framework fits, the new habit is tackled without excuses. After a while, this sequence of events will be stored in your brain and you will need virtually no effort to lace up your running shoes.

Celebrate your success!

It does not matter what this “celebration” looks like. You can treat yourself to a treat or just tell someone about your success. This has the advantage that you can look forward to something in advance. This will increase your motivation!

You can kill two birds with one stone if you look for a reward with additional benefits: For example, after a run you could treat yourself to the RECOVERY SHAKE from MoN Sports, which you will also many top athletes love.

This tastes not only incredibly delicious (chocolate!), but also provides you with plenty of carbohydrates and important proteins. This way you can regenerate perfectly – and at the same time already look forward to the next unit.

5 more tips to help you achieve your goals

You’re not quite convinced that the steps listed are enough? Okay, then we have 5 more actions that can help you stick with it:

Write down your New Year’s resolutions

When you put your resolutions on paper and see them in black and white, they become more realistic and tangible. Thoughts or words quickly evaporate. But a list or a clearly defined goal written on a piece of paper doesn’t just vanish into thin air. It’s best to place the list in a place where you pass by several times a day.

Keep a habit diary

Not only should you write down your goal, but also your progress. Write down every day what you have accomplished. If you think about giving up on bad days, you can look at your diary and see all your successes. Then, when you see how much you’ve accomplished, you’ll find it easier to keep going.

Seek support

True to the motto “a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved,” it always makes sense to find a partner who shares similar goals. Once the appointment is made, you don’t like to cancel. In this way, you virtually prevent yourself from backing out at the last second. In addition, it is also more fun together – after all, shared joy is double joy!

This is especially true for the cold winter days, which already literally invite you to stay at home under the covers. A fixed appointment can be worth its weight in gold in such a case. More tips on how to stay motivated in the cold season you can find HERE.

Make the implementation as simple as possible

Lay out the utensils you’ll need to make your resolution the day before.

Let’s stay with our example of running. If you lay out your running clothes the day before and just have to slip into them, that makes it a little easier to put them on. The less effort you have to put in to realize your goal, the less overcoming you will need.

A failure is not a failure

If some days it just doesn’t work out for you to go for a 20-minute run, stick to the motto: “Less is much better than nothing.”

An all-or-nothing mentality is unhelpful and promotes a guilty conscience.

Allow yourself to slow down on days when nothing is going as it should. Ten minutes of running is better than not running.

The important thing is just to keep at it! The average time from consciously performing an activity to becoming a habit is approximately 66 days. Conversely, it takes barely three days to break a new, still unstable habit.

So you see: Done is better than perfect.

We wish you every success for your goals in 2023! And if you’re still looking for the right sports nutrition to help you achieve your goals: Take a look at our natural & top-tolerated products that many amateur athletes and professional athletes rely on.