The Art of Making Changes that Last: How to Commit to Your Goals

It’s January 1^st – Happy New Year! Have you made a New Year’s resolution for this year?

I don’t know about you, but I tend to commit to resolutions to change some of my eating habits and then forget about them two weeks later.

As I’ve thought about why I can’t seem to make my resolutions stick, I realized that my self-discipline is a little… lacking. It turns out I haven’t made resolutions that I’ve truly been committed to. Building new habits takes a lot of commitment, but if you’re not committed then the change won’t stick.

Commitment is Key

When it comes to making changes to your eating, commitment is essential. If you are committed to your resolutions, it’s like building your house on rock. Your changes will stand no matter the weather. But, if you aren’t committed, it’s like building your house on loose soil. Your change won’t stand a chance when temptations or tough times come.

Choosing What to Commit to

This is why the first step in commitment is to pick a change that you can be committed to. If you pick something that you’re ready to do something about, you’ll be building your changes on rock. Maybe losing 20 pounds is a goal of yours. Are you ready to cut down on the number of cookies you eat or sodas you drink to reach it? Or maybe your goal is to work out every day. If the only time you can work out is at 5 am before work, are you ready to wake up that early? If not, that’s totally ok.

If you’re ready to make changes to your eating, then choose a long-term goal you are ready to commit to. It could be anything from getting more vegetables in your diet to eating less fast food or losing/gaining weight. Whatever it is, you and only you will know what you’re ready to do. Just be honest and realistic with yourself.

Signs of Progression and Regression

Have you chosen your long-term goal that you’re ready to work towards? If you have, then it’s time to decide what progression towards that goal looks like and what regression looks like. If your long-term goal is to eat less fast food, then progression might be eating one less fast food meal per week, while regression would be eating two more fast food meals per week.

Being clear with what progression and regression look like for you is important. It helps you determine when you’re moving towards your goal and when it may be time to rethink your goal. It may be time to rethink your goal when you regress several times or haven’t progressed in a while.

Now, decide for yourself how many times you’ll allow regression to happen before rethinking your long-term goal. Also decide how long you’ll allow yourself to be stagnant before rethinking your long-term goal.

Does this sound like a lot for something as simple as setting a goal? You might be right but when it comes to what and how we eat, nothing is simple. Sometimes this is what it takes to make lasting changes.

[clickToTweet tweet=”When it comes to what & how we eat nothing is simple. Sometimes lasting changes takes a lot more @platewithcait” quote=”When it comes to what & how we eat nothing is simple. Sometimes lasting changes takes a lot more @platewithcait” theme=”style5″]

Revisiting Your Goal

So, if I haven’t scared you away by now and you’ve decided on your signs of your progression and regression, then now you have to decide on how often you’ll revisit your long-term goal. This may be once a day, once a week, or even once a month. How often you want to revisit your goal is how often you want to check up on how you’re doing with your goal.

Again, this is whatever works best for you.

If you don’t know what works best for you, then just choose a time. If it turns out to be too much or too little for you then you can adjust it, no problem. The only recommendation I have is to not go longer than a month between goal revisits because you need to use the signs of progression/regression you decided on to see if the goal you’ve committed to is what you are ready to work on.

If you have to adjust your long-term goal, that’s totally okay. The mission here is to start taking more control over your health. A way to do that is to practice self-discipline with what and how you eat.

Make it Official

After you’ve determined your long-term goal, decided your signs of progression and regression, and how often you’ll revisit your goal, write it all down. The last thing to do is simple but the weightiest of all the tasks so far… It’s time to sign your commitment. The more serious you take this part the more successful you’ll be in reaching your goal.

Giving our word to do something is not something to take lightly. Just remember to have grace with yourself when you mess up – we are not perfect people (spoiler alert). At the same time, don’t just say you’re committing to something if you aren’t intending to see it through.

If commitment seems to be too daunting to you and you don’t think you’re ready yet, then that’s quite alright! It’s great that you recognize the weightiness of commitment. In time you’ll be ready to make a commitment to take control over your eating.

For those of you who are ready to jump in, I’ve provided a commitment contract below. You can use it, if you’d like, to make your commitment official. Next week we’ll talk about the next important step in making lasting changes – finding support and accountability.

I am so excited to start this journey towards healthy eating with you. I am looking forward to working towards my goals alongside you!