The Psychology Of Fitness

If you haven’t read the first part in this series,  click here.

The second biggest reason why we often fail at keeping New Year’s resolutions is that we make
resolutions that we either really don’t want or realistic for us at the present time.

Every resolution or goal competes with other goals.  You decide whether or not you should take or
leave a New Year’s Resolution by getting acquainted with Mental Contrasting.  Mental Contrasting is a
psychological term in which you “contrast” your desires with potential obstacles.

If you can recall the last goal you’ve wanted to achieve, you will see that you have done this naturally.
For example, say you wanted to lose 30 pounds. You think, “Losing 30 pounds would be awesome.
Almost instantly after thinking that though you start to think, “Ugh, it’s going to be so much work.”

In other words, you thought of your desire and then thought about an obstacle to that desire.  Although
you may have done this naturally, when making and sticking to a resolution, you should make this a
more conscious deliberation.  This way you don’t make resolutions you can’t or don’t want to commit to.

Your to do:  Think and write down the top benefit of picking this resolution.

Imagine your biggest obstacle/barrier that you would have to overcome to achieve that resolution.  List
a reason why you want to achieve the resolution followed by how you plan on overcoming an obstacle
to that resolution.  Afterwards, you’ll know the biggest benefits and obstacles towards picking this
resolution.

#1 – Benefit _______________________________________________________________________

#1 – Obstacle ______________________________________________________________________

#2 – Benefit _______________________________________________________________________

#2 – Obstacle ______________________________________________________________________

#3 – Benefit _______________________________________________________________________

#3 – Obstacle ______________________________________________________________________

#4 – Benefit _______________________________________________________________________

#4 – Obstacle ______________________________________________________________________

With those reasons now known, does picking this resolution still entice you to make it?  If so, you will
now have a better idea of what you will need to do to achieve that goal and resolution.  If not, you will
forego beating yourself up for picking a resolution that you never wanted or couldn’t implement in the
first place.