Hey everyone. If you don’t mind, set those kettlebells, sandbags, and ropes down for a moment, grab some water, and let’s have a little talk about a cool little paradigm-shifting website that might help you with motivating you to the next level of your life and fitness. It’s an interesting twist on the traditional New Year’s Resolution… Check it out: Leap Year’s Resolution.
Do you have New Year's resolutions out the wazoo? Give yourself permission to change your life and the world in a four year period instead of one unrealistically crammed year. If your New Year's list is too long, you may get discouraged and give up.
For example, a New Year’s resolution of losing 50 pounds in a year may seem daunting and, for many, impossible. A person who loses 35 lbs. that year, while he may be happy with his progress, may end up disappointed that his original goal wasn’t met. This is not exactly positive reinforcement for such a great accomplishment. The following New Year, the resolution might be dropped to a “more realistic and reachable” 30 lbs. Or worse yet, no resolution might be set at all.
While 50 lbs. in 1 year may seem aggressive, 100 lbs. in 4 years (25 lbs. per year) doesn’t seem as unattainable. The same person who loses 35 lbs. in his first year will be extremely ecstatic for the same amount of progress and motivated to do even more. Even if he does comparatively worse his second year and loses only 15 lbs., he’s still right on target for his four year goal.
Why “Leap” To A Four Year Plan?
Having a four year plan levels the playing field some. I know a personal trainer or two who seem to proudly live in some sort of personal mental bubble and are convinced that life’s problems can not and should not ever get in the way of your workout. If that is your personal mental attitude, the more power to you. It takes a special personality that can look fearlessly in the eyes of adversity without flinching. But for the rest of of us who are realists and not blessed (depending on who you ask) with such bold A-Type personalities, we know that bad things sometimes happen. A four year plan gives us permission to handle those issues as they come up, without feeling like we’ve “failed” from our original goal.
