It’s that time of year; we’re in the fourth quarter of 2024, the final stretch, the Grand Finale. Plenty of folks are looking to finish strong at work, in the gym, and in their various other personal endeavours. However, plenty of other folks have unfortunately already fallen off, vowing that it’s ok, 2025 will be their year! People are starting to look ahead to Christmas and Holiday parties and vacations already. And with this, there’s one reoccurring phenomenon waiting for us around the corner, rearing its ugly head. The “New Year, New Me” whispers have already begun, with folks making promises to themselves that once that Calendar hits January 1st, they are going to drop everything and make a long-lasting lifestyle change. Of course, these folks aren’t inherently bad people and their minds and hearts are in the right place. January means a fresh start, so it makes logical sense to install or implement a new habit or lifestyle during the season of change, growth, and rebirth.
Start Now
Unfortunately, much more often than not, these well-intentioned resolutions combust, crash, and burn. Although impossible to measure COMPLETELY accurately, it’s been estimated that 80 PERCENT of New Years Resolutions fail by the middle of February! Now, fortunately, we CAN flip this in a more positive light. If ~80% of these resolutions fail, that naturally means that 20% must succeed!
And, contrary to popular belief, while November isn’t technically the start of a new year, it may just actually be the perfect time to embark on your quest to enlightenment.
Especially for us Canadians, November is virtually distraction-free. Halloween and Thanksgiving are over and we have a unique opportunity ahead of us. We have an entire month where we can just lock in and focus on our new goal, whether it’s nutrition-based, exercise-based, lifestyle-based, or some combination. At Iron Performance Center, we don’t exactly love the idea of setting a date for a New Year’s resolution where we quit a bad habit or add a new habit cold-turkey; this is oftentimes what contributes to that 80% failure rate. We would instead suggest a gradual and sustainable lifestyle change. Having said that, our suggestion to exponentially increase the likelihood of success if you’re dead-set on doing a New Year’s Resolution, is to start NOW. Here’s why.
Habits
Experts say it can take anywhere from 18-254 days to transform a new routine into a habit, with the average being 66 days. Seeing as there are exactly 60 days between this blog being published and December 31, there quite literally could never be a better time than now to get after your goals! Folks tend to start to fall off the wagon around this time of year and begin to look forward in hopes that they’ll be able to turn things around in the New year. They may give up on their exercise routine and healthy eating habits while again making a promise to themselves that once the New Year hits, they’ll get back on the wagon. After all, there’s tons of leftover Halloween chocolate and candy to eat, and Christmas cookies are just around the corner, calling our name. These distractions won’t be present in January, so it’ll be easy to be laser-focused on our goals and aspirations… right? The unfortunate reality is that some form of distractions will ALWAYS be present.
Instead, we suggest starting to implement these positive habits now. Resist the urge to wait until Monday, and take one positive step today. When people know they have a New Year’s resolution on the horizon, they oftentimes tend to feel like they need that last kick at the can or one last hurrah before starting their new lifestyle, leading to binges and other poor decisions. While you may not need a complete overnight overhaul, you can and should simply start taking steps in the right direction ASAP. Just imagine how proud you’ll feel if you show up to these Holiday parties having already established a new positive and productive routine for almost two months now. Having laid the groundwork for improved healthy habits throughout November and early December, you can attend these Holiday parties guilt-free and actually enjoy yourself. Heck, having been diligent for the past ~2 months, you could probably even afford to indulge a bit! You don’t need to be overly restrictive and abstain from eating a single piece of junk food or skipping another workout for the rest of your life; remember, you don’t have to go undefeated to win the championship. We’re simply going to look at some methods and mindsets that will lead to sustainable and cemented habit creation over time.
The Four Keys to Sustainable and Long-Lasting Habit Creation:
In the same way we tell our athletes to trust their training, we know we will always fall to the level of our systems; we don’t simply get lucky and win on game day. According to James Clear, author of the wildly popular book Atomic Habits, four main factors will lead to the success of our habits. Clear suggests that we make habits obvious, attractive, easy, and enjoyable.
1. Obvious
Making habits obvious involves two main factors:
Habit stacking – add to what you already do. If I already frequently listen to informative podcasts (one positive habit), it can help to ride my bike or go for a walk or run while doing so, effectively stacking two positive habits together.
Obvious cues – visual attention is a critical factor in developing a new habit. If I set out my gym clothes, put my workout shoes near the door, and prep and place my healthy meals on the top shelf at the front of the refrigerator before bed, it will almost be impossible for me to lose the next day. I will literally have to TRY to not work out and eat healthy!
2. Attractive
Making habits attractive also involves two main factors:
Social Environment – The best training accessory is not a fancy pair of shoes, headphones, lifting belt, or knee sleeves, but a reliable training partner who will motivate you and keep you accountable. This holds true whether you are pursuing athletic goals or even just improved overall fitness.
Reward Stacking – This is a great method of making your habits attractive, assuming the reward also contributes to your goals. Allowing yourself to drink a 6-pack of beer every time you complete a workout may be a bit counterproductive, but making a habit of meditating for five minutes after every workout session will now ensure you are developing not one, but TWO, positive healthy habits that are synergistic and support one another.
3. Easy
Making habits easy also involves – you guessed it – two main factors:
Accessible environment – In this case, it can be equally powerful to make some of these less-desirable habits inaccessible. Increasing accessibility may include not only purchasing vegetables and fruits, but cutting them up immediately upon bringing them in the house so that they are readily accessible.
Decreasing accessibility may include keeping your beer or ice cream in the garage fridge and freezer. We’re not suggesting that you never purchase some of these things you love, but simply making them slightly less accessible will lead to more appropriate consumption levels. Especially in the harsh Canadian winter, when you have to travel outside to the garage and trudge through two feet of snow, you’ll likely think twice about how badly you really want that treat.
Two-Minute Rule – although it may not seem like enough initially, keep in mind we are trying to CREATE or ESTABLISH a new habit. We need habits that will leave you wanting more or feeling like you could do more. If you currently have very poor eating habits and know you need to make drastic changes, simply start with one very healthy meal per day. You know a larger percentage of your daily intake should likely be healthier, and that IS the end goal, but starting small with one improved meal will encourage you to eventually bump it to two, and next thing you know, your overall diet has improved drastically.
On the same note, if you’re someone who currently only exercise once per week and feels they should up that frequency to four or five times per week, we would suggest initially increasing to two or three times per week for long enough that it becomes a concrete habit before trying to eat the elephant all in one bite.
4. Enjoyable
Celebrate and emphasize the process and you’ll enjoy the outcome. Chase the outcome and you may be setting yourself up for failure and disappointment. Knowing you need to exercise more, AND knowing you like the idea of strength training better than your traditional cardio training, but convincing yourself that you NEED to suffer for hours on the treadmill or spin bike will certainly lead you to crash and burn on this newfound goal. Instead of becoming married to an end-goal number on a scale or dress size, pat yourself on the back every time you perform an action that supports these endeavours: crushing a workout, eating a healthy meal, or going to sleep at a reasonable time. For a variety of reasons, we can’t always control the outcome, but we CAN control the process and the decisions it’s comprised of. Most importantly, begin by implementing strategies you actually enjoy and you can build from there.
In Conclusion
The New Year, New You concept is well-intentioned but flawed because in reality, you don’t need a new you; there’s nothing WRONG with the current you! While it may be true that you could afford to make a few better choices to support your overall health and well-being, the current you is more than capable of making choices and changes towards a better life; you simply may not have understood the HOW before reading this article. Now being equipped with the tools and techniques you need, we’re excited to see you venture out on this new journey and flourish in whatever path you choose. Keeping in mind that it takes an average of 66 days to cement a new habit, let’s attack these last two months of 2024 so that you can truly make 2025 your best year yet. And, as always, if you ever need help with designing the road map, please reach out to us; we’d be happy to help!
