I know I should be more positive right? But it’s reality. Most New Year’s Resolutions fail. And fail pretty quickly. That’s why the big gyms do over 25% of their revenue in January alone. But once February comes it’s back to normal. Only the people that realize it’s not a quick fix are there.
Why do Resolutions Fail?
Great question. Without getting overly scientific, it’s because there’s nothing behind a resolution. There’s no accountability or plan. Those are big problems.
What does work?
Another great question. You’re on a roll. It might not be as sexy but what works way better is proper goal setting.
Here are 5 traits your goal should have along with a real world example from your very own TBBC! I’ll give you a peek into the Ivory Tower that is TBBC Headquarters.:)
- Specific – Your goal must be specific. “I want to lose weight” is not specific. “I’m 10 pounds lighter” is.
- Measurable – We have to be able to track it. We have to be able to know where we are in relation to our goal. This is how we get traction.
- Timed – Your goal must have a date attached to it. How long do you want to take to lose that 10 pounds? 20 years? Or 2 months?
- Personal – It has to be YOUR goal. Your spouse or even your doctor wanting you to lose weight isn’t good enough. It has to resonate with YOU.
- Written – Very few people (Definitely less than 3%) of us have written goals. I just found a bunch of old notebooks with goals in them as I was cleaning up. I had a big goal at the time (2012) to attend a premier business event (with a big price tag) in Nashville. At the time it was more of a dream as it seemed so out of reach. The funny thing is I’m all booked to attend the event in early 2016! I found the goal book after the trip was booked. Writing down goals works!
OK let’s go through each of the 5 steps for the TBBC goal I mentioned. Maybe you can help us reach it.:)
Most gyms base their model on a formula that sets their members up for failure rather than success. They basically just host workouts. There’s no community and almost no accountability.
One of the things that sets TBBC apart is how much we care about our members and their results. We would rather have less members but charge more so we can give more personal attention and help people stay on track. We actually call people if they don’t show up. We understand that some people would never invest $200 per month or more when they can go workout for $10/month. We’re OK with that because we know who we want to work with. People that value the coaching, accountability, and community that we offer.
With all that said, we will put a cap on our membership. We would rather grow in other ways (location 3?) than cram our current facilities.
Our cap at Babylon will be 100 active members. Right now we are at 65. OK so let’s look at the 5 components of goal setting.
- 100 is very specific. Not 94. Not 102. 100.
- It is measurable. Sam runs a report before each meeting to let us know where we are at in relation to our goal.
- We have a time frame. July 1st, 2016. We are realistic and know it will take time as keeping our current Warriors moving toward their goals is another objective of ours.
- It is very personal for us. We are literally in business to help people.
- The goal is written and that makes it real for us.
We have to make the most of our time. Hopefully through staying healthy we can live longer and more productive but at some point our time will be up. What we do every second counts. Let’s make sure we are moving toward something that will make ourselves and others better.
Setting goals using the 5 steps above is powerful. As we take action we can see and feel positive change. This can NOT be overlooked. We have to do the stuff that brings us closer to our goals. It will be hard. We will get knocked down but as Rocky said, “It’s not about how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
Written by
Billy Hofacker B.S., CSCS