New Year, No Pressure: A Healthier Take on Resolutions

Hello 2025, are you there?

This time of year can be exciting AND can be overwhelming.

There’s a lot of noise to set new goals and resolutions, putting pressure on yourself to ‘hurry up’ and decide and with a big marketing push to buy the latest and greatest. It can all be a bit too much and I too have felt that this year.

And sometimes setting that big goal can be all a bit scary because what if you don’t achieve it.

Here are my recommendations for navigating the psychological battle of it all and still come out a winner....

1. Focus on who you want to BE.

Review your current choices of where you invest your time, energy and money. Are you happy with that or do you want to do a bit better? As an example, here is what I reflected on: 

• Less money on ‘average’ food and increase nourishing foods 
• Less time on tv news and more time on study 
• Less energy on cardio and more energy on structured training program

2. Progress over Perfection 

How often have you given up because you didn't get things 100% perfect? Lean into an ‘All or Something’ approach rather than All or Nothing. With small daily incremental actions you’ll achieve more over 1 year than you will with trying to do 100% all the time (it’s just like reading a book - there are very few people that start a book and finish it in one session every time!) Reality means that some days you won't have the best sleep, or work has sucked the days energy from you, or there's a family emergency you have to deal with. On these kinds of days perhaps achieving 10 squats and 10 bench push ups while the veggies are cooking is enough, or forgoing the gym and getting some rest and recovery by reading 10 pages of a book in bed and lights out before 10pm is going to be better for you. Empowering right?!

3. Empower through Self Accountability

Speaking of empowerment, being accountable to yourself is far more powerful than being accountable to someone else. (and slightly harder too because its only You V You) There are some ways you can start doing this (think of it like data collection rather than punishment) 

• use a template to track your habits (you can download one I use with clients HERE)
• grab a blank diary or notebook to write down what you did for YOU that day (food/movement/sleep/fun/learning) and notice any patterns - good or not so good (it's just data) 
• use a measuring tape rather than scales to monitor any changes 
• grab all the free education tools you can to see if you really ARE interested/driven in achieving whatever goal eg. rather than throw money at a trainer/coach and making the responsibility of results sit on their shoulders; listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos, read books/magazines, grab free recipes - prove to yourself you want to achieve and then IF you’ve been consistent/levelled up for at least 2 months, then start to research the best coach/trainer to help you continue your journey is a more streamlined way.

[this is exactly the way I started my fitness journey 12 years ago and helped me really decide if I was ready to embrace a lifestyle change rather than just throw more money at something that I wasn't truly committed to - it led me to not only change my health and fitness but to change my whole career and start my business in the health and wellbeing industry......way before influencers!]

Remember - it's ok to set a goal and tweak it, you are human and things change in life. And whether you set that goal on January 1st or on February 12th it doesn't matter. You do You and I'll be over here cheering you on.

I would love to hear how you go - shoot me a message on my Instagram @fionahurle