Keeping motivated all year round

Now is the time many of us start thinking about New Year Resolutions.  According to a Neilson poll, planning fitness or weight related goals are most common ones we made last year and also the ones that we found hardest to keep past January.   

Keeping motivated all year round is not always easy.  A key reason we fail is that we are apparently overly ambitious or unrealistic in what we resolve to change.  I don’t necessarily agree.  For me the best motivator is to always have an ambitious goal committed to and preferably one that scares the pants off me.  The knowledge of needing to prepare and train for weeks in advance or risk failure is enough to get me out of my warm bed on a morning and keep my training plan on track.  I also have a habit of writing my goals somewhere I can see them regularly, it helps keep them at the front of my mind.

Even although I enjoy training, without a goal it lacks focus and becomes far too easy for me to skip a session.   I always set my goals early and next year I have signed up for two long distance triathlons.  As the first is in May I am already working on my base training and have a training plan in place to match my goals.   Committing to meeting up and training with others helps too as it is harder to let someone down, finding a coach that monitors your progress and makes you accountable is also a good way to keep on track.

Making progress can be frustrating at times particularly when gains are small or something does not quite go as planned.  But keep visualising your target, whether that is becoming a faster runner, pulling another notch in on your belt in or finishing a race that you never thought a year ago was possible for you to start, keep that goal in mind and it will keep you moving in the right direction throughout the year and avoid being just another failed January fad.

@lindatodd74