As the final hours of 2015 tick past, many of us will be shifting focus towards next years goals. As a nutritionist and hypnotherapist I firmly believe in goal setting but I am also very aware that a goal will only succeed in making a person feel inadequate unless it is set correctly.

Tony Robbins is quoted as saying;

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.

Who could argue with the indisputable Mr Robbins….but what about the other and far more important steps?

We can all state what our new years resolution is, but thats just words…a goal needs to be written down with a date of completion otherwise it’s just a dream!! So, maybe you are making a declaration to the world that you will drop two dress sizes in 2016…write it down in the notes section of your phone, give it a date that you will be that size and look at it every single morning when you wake up. Is this enough….not quite!

You have a goal, you’ve written it down, you’ve given it a date and you are reading this goal each morning, will you wake up on this date 2 sizes smaller….unfortunately not without a plan and consistent action.

Set a goal, write it down, make a plan and take action can turn dreams into reality for many but for so many others it doesn’t and it doesn’t for one reason and one reason only…mindset!

Mindset is the reason that you won’t find an empty treadmill in a gym for the entire month of January but come mid-February those very same treadmills are ready and available for the regulars. Mindset is also the reason I started my company The Mind and Body Detox (www.mindandbodydetox.co.uk) because attempting to implement healthy lifestyle changes and build positive habits is an almost possible mission if you have not first detoxed your mind of the toxic thoughts or ‘stinking thinking’ we continuously have. According to best selling author and motivational speaker Jennifer Read Hawthorne, humans have between 12’000 and 60’000 thoughts a day, 80% of which are negative! Wow…just wow!!! We truly are our own worst enemy!

It is little wonder that many new years resolutions and goals fall by the wayside…we are the ones that convince ourselves that we will fail!!! It is difficult to remove yourself from negativity when you are the one causing it.

So my message to you all on this new years eve is go easy on yourself. There is no need to put yourself under any unnecessary pressure in order to bring about a positive change. In his book, How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, Jack Canfield states that if you repeat a behaviour consistently for 13 weeks, that new behaviour will be yours for life. So rather than feeling overwhelmed by a long term goal, focus on a 13 week timescale. I would also highly recommend choosing one small and positive change at a time, focus on it for 13 weeks, completely nail it and then introduce another. For example, during an initial consultation with a new nutrition client, I will provide an overwhelming amount of information which can sometimes leave them feeling that they have a long and arduous road to a healthier diet. I always suggest choosing one positive change at a time, nail it and introduce another….drink more water, cook in coconut oil, eat 3-4 portions of good fat a day, one by one positive changes are soon daily habits as a huge task becomes less daunting. If you introduced a new healthy habit every 13 weeks you would have four positive behaviour changes made in one year alone, the compound effect over 5 years would mean 20 healthy and established habits, far more appealing than 5 failed new years resolutions wouldn’t you say?

To hopefully inspire you I have made my list of the 4 new habits that I will consistently do in 2016, choosing one at a time every 13 weeks and doing it daily until it becomes a life long habit:

– Gratitude List

– 20 Minutes Meditation and Affirmations

– 30 Minutes Reading

– Plan the following day before bed

These are all things that I already do, however, they are not yet ‘daily’ habits to the point that they happen as naturally as brushing my teeth. I am hoping to turn these powerful activities into automated tasks that require no reminding by consistent daily effort. I know that one year from today I will have a beautiful set of helpful habits that come naturally to me because I built them without feeling overwhelmed or daunted by the task ahead. My hope for you this new years eve is that you are able to do the same in 2016 so that from one year today you are an even better version of yourself.

Wishing you a peaceful, happy and healthy new year!