It’s a new quarter in the year 2-0-1-1! This means that you should be changing out your toothbrush and washing all your windows.  (The ADA recommends you change your toothbrush every 3 months and super-housecleaners recommend cleaning windows on a quarterly basis.  I can follow that toothbrush one, but who has time to clean their windows that often? I’ve got running to do! I like looking through dust and dirt!)

It’s also a good time to check back on resolutions created at the beginning of the year.  Many people make resolutions and either immediately forget about them or they have burned out on them from being too zealous with change.  Typically just 46% of people are still holding to their resolutions by the time we hit the 6-month mark…¹ If they took a look at their list and re-evaluated throughout the year they would have a better chance at (Duh!) winning the resolution game.

Be Honest

Take a look at those resolutions you made when you were riding the high of a new year and a clean start.  Were the resolutions made based on societal expectations or your true desires?  Were they practical for you as an individual? Maybe they were, but as Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”  Our lives are always changing and unexpected twists/turns are bound to happen.  The simple act of life moving forward and LIVING our lives can make those previously practical resolutions now look completely unreasonable.  Take a look at your goals and re-assess.

Achieving the Goal

When making resolutions people are often random and arbitrary.  While it does help to make resolutions that have some degree of specificity, it is also essential to look at the actual means to achieving your goal.  Men frequently succeed more through using concrete goal setting techniques (measurable methods to determine success, numbers, deadlines, etc.).  Women succeed at a higher rate if they use a support network (friends, family, blogs, twitter, facebook, etc.) to receive feedback and encouragement toward a goal.² Make sure you are taking the steps necessary to help you reach the goal, obviously you can’t just sit back and wait for the resolution to happen to you!

Re-Write Them

Once you’ve taken a look at the resolutions, re-write them. (Or re-blog them, or re-tweet them… whatever works for you; tweeting seems like it would be a lot easier to lose them amongst the chatter though!)  If your goals have changed, re-writing them will give you a new record of these goals.  If your goals have not changed, re-writing them will remind you of their importance.

My Check-In

So how am I doing with my 2011 resolutions?

1. Run More
This falls into that “random and arbitrary” category.  And this is one that I have to re-evaluate or consider eliminating.  I’ve felt weird ups and downs with my energy levels since January.  I have a half-marathon on May 1 and after that my doctor wants me to cut my running mileage down to 10-12 miles a week.  That makes me sad, but I need to do what I have to for my health and for my family.  So I think I will re-word this goal: Feel Good Running

2. Get to MTH
I’m working on that… which, ironically enough, is part of the reason why I have to run less.

3. Try New Things
I just got a weighted hoola hoop… and it is a blast!  I’m not up to performing any tricks yet, but it is so much fun.  I know it’s supposedly “exercise” and “good for you” but truthfully I don’t even think of that when I use it… it just feels like I’m playing!  I’ve also been running in more minimal shoes all the time and enjoying that transition.  I bought a Groupon to a yoga studio near my home which I plan to use after my May half marathon as well.  The studio offers a wide variety of yoga classes, but also some other things like Zumba and Nia.

4. Make Jade The Boxer a Runner
She’s going through a rebellious teenager phase where I think she’s even worse on a leash than she was when we first brought her home.  So right now, I’m just trying to make her walk on the leash without driving me insane (or hurting me! She’s getting really strong!)

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This post was written as part of the Nike Women Make Yourself Movement for April.
Now let’s have you weigh in:
Did you follow through with your New Year’s Resolutions? How will you approach and/or modify them for the remainder of the year?

References:
1. http://www.proactivechange.com/resolutions/statistics.htm
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution