New Year’s Resolution Check-In (Six Months!)

We’re now officially halfway through the year.

I know, where has the time gone? I swear, the more I want to accomplish, the faster time goes by. Crazy how that works.

At the beginning of the year, I promised to check in with you every three months to see how your progress was going and to help keep you accountable for your resolutions. Well, April has already passed us by, and now we’re into July.

So how are you doing with your goals for the year?

Are you making progress? Feeling discouraged? Or have you forgotten about them altogether?

If that’s the case, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most people forget about their New Year’s resolutions within just a couple of weeks. The good news? You still have time.

We still have six months of 2014 to accomplish all our goals!

But first, let’s take a look at how you should have created your goals in the first place—and whether you might want to reevaluate your goals for this year.

Setting yourself up for success

In case you don’t remember, when we went about setting our resolutions at the beginning of this year I gave you a few important guidelines to follow when creating goals:

They should be measurable. Making a resolution measurable ensures you’ll actually know when you’ve been successful.

For example, this could be a goal to do your first full pistol, hold a handstand for at least 10 seconds. With these goals and others like them, you’ll actually know when you’ve succeeded, unlike other vague goals that many people tend to make.

They’re realistic. It doesn’t make sense to make a goal to do a stand to stand bridge if you can’t even get past a half bridge yet. Sure, that’s a great long-term goal, but for now, you should start with a more doable goal—such as get a full bridge by the end of the year—so you don’t get overly discouraged.

They come from you (not someone else). Resolutions and goals should be something that’s personally important to you, not something someone else said you should do.

They’re used sparingly. The less goals and resolutions you make at any one time, the better. It’s tough to build a new habit, and all too easy to give up on everything when it seems like you’re not making progress in anything.

Pick just a few, meaningful goals, and you’ll be much more likely to succeed.

Reevaluating your goals

Sometimes, you may realize that the goals you made at an earlier point in time are no longer what you want to focus on. This may be because:

• They weren’t actually realistic to begin with
• Your goals/priorities have changed
• You just can’t find the motivation to continue
• You got injured, or something else got in the way

If that’s the case, don’t feel too discouraged. Although I encourage you to stay consistent and get rid of your excuses, that doesn’t mean you should never quit.

Constantly making excuses about outside factors that stopped you from completing your goals isn’t good, and is a bad habit to get into.

But acknowledging that you no longer want to go after that goal and consciously quit? That’s perfectly fine.

For example, one of my New Year’s resolutions in 2013 was to do a freestanding handstand push up. Yet not only could I not do a proper handstand or hold a freestanding handstand for any length of time at all, I also didn’t have the strength to do a full handstand push up. All of these factors led me to reevaluate—and adjust—my goal partway through the year.

I didn’t quit altogether. I just acknowledged that it wasn’t realistic for that particular year.

And if you need to do the same, that’s ok. Just be honest with yourself, and remind yourself that you can do anything you put your mind to! You may just have to pivot slightly along the way.

My progress in 2014

Here’s how I’m doing so far with my 2014 resolutions:

To be able to do a freestanding (half) handstand push up:

I’m getting a lot more optimistic about this one. Not only am I getting better at holding freestanding handstands, I’ve also learned that getting a freestanding handstand push up is not just a strength thing—it actually has a lot to do with technique.

To get better at these, I’ve been really working on my handstand push ups as well as my handstands and headstands. I actually am very confident I’ll be able to do a full freestanding handstand push up by the end of this year, if not in the next month!

Realistic by the end of the year? Yes

To do a strict muscle up:

Muscle ups are another skill that require both strength and technique, and I’m pretty sure at this point that I’m really just missing the technique. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve made significant progress already this year.

I was able to do about 13 of these really ugly muscle ups the other day at the park:

Getting there! Once I actually get a couple of good ones, I’ll do a big post on how I was able to progress with muscle ups and how you guys can do the same.

Realistic by the end of the year? Yes

To do 10 pistols in a row per leg:

I’ve been working a lot on negatives and candlestick rolls, and am getting much better at pistols.

Here’s a video where I show you how to progress with them if you’re struggling:

Realistic by the end of the year? Yes

To write a book:

I’m finished with the first draft, and am currently talking with agents and publishers about getting it published! Fingers crossed you’ll see the first official 12 Minute Athlete book in the near future.

Realistic by the end of the year? Yes

Overall, I’m pretty happy with my progress so far this year. I’ve definitely stuck with my goals longer than I ever did in previous years, and I credit that partly to making clear, realistic goals to begin with. I can’t wait to see where I’m at at the end of 2014!

Don’t give up!

No matter what your goals, remember, you can do anything you put your mind to. It might take longer than you’d like, or not happen in the way you expect, but you can do it.

And remember, if you make the decision to quit one goal, put another that you care about even more in it’s place. Keep challenging yourself and you’ll keep growing!

You can do it. Six months to go!

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” – Mary Kay Ash