I know, I know. I didn’t want to write it either. I’m pretty anti-resolutions. I don’t need to bore you with the statistics about the percentage of people who make a resolution and then don’t follow through on it. You already know that it’s high. You probably know because you’ve personally made one (or a lot of them) and they didn’t really pan out. You’ve also probably heard all the reasons “why” they don’t work and my personal belief is that they don’t work because you don’t want it badly enough. If you were truly serious about it, you wouldn’t have waited until the start of the new year. You’d have started the moment you came up with the idea.

But enough of that. I’m coming to you today to tell you how to actually succeed. And this isn’t subject to only new years resolutions, but really any change you want to make when it comes to your nutrition and health or fitness. It’s what I work on with all of my clients on a daily basis. And you’ve certainly heard me elude to it in previous posts if you’ve been following along over the years. We know that there isn’t really any secret. It’s not sexy. It boils down to consistently eating pretty well and getting in exercise over a long period of time. Aren’t you excited?!

But you knew that too, didn’t you? After all, if it was so damn easy we’d all be sporting 6 packs. In fact, and this is still crazy for me to think about, but if you are of a normal weight for your height, then you are a minority. Most people are overweight or obese. That’s just a fact, albeit a sad one. Were quickly approaching our general population to be at 70% overweight or obese. Seventy. Not seven.

So… we know that it takes consistent dedication to eating well and exercising. Bottom line. But how do we consistently do it? I think that’s the question most of us aren’t asking. And it’s the most important one. And here is my answer:

Focus on the task.

That’s it. Focus on the action you need to take that will lead you to your goals. Too many people focus on their weight, for example. If instead, however, they were to focus on getting 7-9 hours of sleep every night, have a vegetable with lunch and dinner, or drink half their body weight in ounces of fluid each day, then I think a lot of people would be a lot more successful. You see, focusing on the task is easy. There’s no emotional tie to having a vegetable at dinner each night. That ain’t the case when you step on the scale after putting in work for a couple of weeks and it’s barely budged. That shit will bring you down, man. That’s a goal killer. Now yes, you might hop on and maybe not seeing it down is just more motivation, but eventually, that’s going to get old. Instead, just focus on the tasks. And do them. Ev. Re. Day. Over a long period of time. You WILL see results.

Now, you can also pair that with just having low expectations and you’ll also be happy!

But seriously, the task is the key. That’s the golden ticket. Stick to the task, do it and you’re set. Sure, I’ve made it sound more “easier said than done”, but trust me it gets easier. You know why? Because by focusing on the task, you’re subconsciously forming a habit. You’re forming a norm. And the norm should be eating well and exercising. If down the line you find yourself out of whack because you haven’t exercised in a few days, you know you’ve got it. If you feel like absolute crap after eating a greasy, fried or super sugary meal, you know you’ve made it. Try it for a year. They go by pretty fast and the time will pass anyways, so give it a shot.

Happy 2017 everyone!