It’s that time of year where people are flooding into gyms to start working on their new years resolutions. However, researchers have found that most people tend to give up on their resolutions by February. How can you bridge the divide between intention and doing?

Here are some tips to help turn 2019 resolutions into long-lasting habits and to get past the February funk:

1. Give it time. It takes a while for something new to become habitual. A study conducted at Wharton School paid a group of individuals to exercise for a period of 28 days. They found that most of these people stuck with these habits after the study was over. Milkman, the head researcher on the study, states, “The key to habit is repetition. If you can get that repetition going while you have high motivation, you are much more likely to have a behavior change that lasts.”
2. Set realistic goals. Make sure that the goals you set are small, incremental, and achievable. Many individuals tend to set unrealistic goals and then give up on the whole thing when they are unable to achieve them.
3. Make physical activity social. Tackling fitness goals with another individual tends to increase productivity as well as longevity. So grab a friend and work on your goals together!
4. Change the mindset. Many people start their fitness journey with only one goal: weight loss. While it is okay to have a goal like this, don’t let it be the driving force. Instead, choose performance based goals. For example, try to improve on your mile time, squat more weight than you did last time, or try to finally be able to do the splits. With these kinds of goals, the aesthetics will still be achieved but your attitude and love towards working out will drastically change.

For more information on this topic, check out the article “How to make exercise a habit that sticks.”

Contributed by: Sofia Sepulveda

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