First thing’s first: New Year’s Resolutions are stupid. We make them, don’t keep them, and end up feeling bad about ourselves because we failed. It’s a negative cycle that tends to stifle progress, rather than aid it.
Either our goals are set too high: “I’m going to quit smoking,” and then you don’t. Or they’re set too low: “Lose weight.” You lose a pound, and guess what? You won! Back to snuffling cakes like cocaine.
So instead of setting lofty and/or generic goals that you can’t ever manage, I challenge you to set 2 or 3 concrete, attainable goals that will work like stepping stones into your new lifestyle.
- Enter and Finish 4 Races in 2013. I even have my schedule worked out: a 5k in March, a 10k in May, a zombie 5k in October, and a half-marathon in October.
- Eat meat no more than twice a week. Going vegetarian is tough, especially in rural Tennessee, so if I can do 5 out of 7 days veg, I think I’ll be doing okay. After all, I’m doing it for health reasons, not ethical ones.
- Begin weight training during summer break. I’m intrigued by kettlebells. A lot. I’m also intrigued by the way my wife reacts when she can feel my muscles pop out. Again: a lot. And with SPRI having launched an inside-your-house-friendly kettleBALL (referral link), I think I just might have found a weight I’ll enjoy.
See? They’re not too lofty–I didn’t say I was going vegan or full on vegetarian, because I know that’s impossible for me at this point in my life. I didn’t say I was going to PR those races, just that I intend to enter them and finish them.
Though to be frank, I’m even half-tempted to say that saying I’ll finish the half-marathon is too lofty, given that I’ve only ever run in a single 5k race. But I know I’ll finish. The time might be awful, but I’ll cross that finish line. One way or another.
Now, that doesn’t include non-fitness goals. Outside of that, I want to have four novels on Amazon.com as Kindle ebooks before 2014 (my Technomage Archive trilogy and a completed omnibus of Nimbus) and start freelance editing indie author manuscripts on the side.
So 2013 could very well shape up to be a very busy–yet very fulfilling–year for the Beejmeister. We’ll see how it goes.
What about you folks? What do you have planned for 2013?
A half marathon in 10 months isn’t lofty at all đŸ™‚ If you can run 5k, you can run a half marathon (barring injuries), as long as you have a training plan and stick to it. Good luck đŸ™‚ Keen to read the rest of your story!
Sometimes it feels lofty just because it’s a half-marathon. I fully expect to be able to do it, especially once these cold days are over with. Not having a treadmill at home is killing me.