Lose 20 pounds, save money, eat healthier are all familiar new resolutions, and a local emotional fitness coach is encouraging us to look at our mindset before we even start with a plan.  

Nancy McNaughton, with Dreality Emotional Fitness in Steinbach, says a healthy mindset is foundational to setting goals.  "The reality is, whether it's new years or the middle of the year, only 8% of us actually reach our goals. So it's important that we look at our mindset and how we look at goals."

According to McNaughton, if we've failed in keeping our resolutions in the past, and speak negatively about previous experiences, she says "we begin to think resolutions don't work and we are automatically setting ourselves up for failure. But when we change those thoughts and say 'goals can work' and say 'I can do this and it is possible for me' suddenly our emotions change and we start to feel positive and feel hopeful".   

"A big thing going around right now is that new year's resolutions don't work", she says, "and if we believe that and tell that to ourselves, we're going to fail."

McNaughton says goal setting and resolutions require some self-awareness.  "Pay attention to your mindset, notice what thoughts you are saying to yourself as you are reaching for that goal. What is the language you are saying to yourself?  Become self-aware and then you can start to adjust your mindset. 'I can do this' and 'I don't need to wait until tomorrow to start my diet again'."

There are a couple of things to have in place when we're setting goals or working towards new year's resolutions.

"Know your why" is the first thing McNaughton says you need to do as you make a resolution or goal.  Answer the question "why are you making this resolution?", and she suggests writing down multiple reasons why you are making the resolution you are.  And put those answers somewhere you're going to see and remember clearly why you made the goal you did.  

McNaughton draws on experience when sharing these ideas using her resolution to quit smoking over 30 years ago as an example.  She decided to stop smoking to save money, but something like a surprise salary raise can derail that motivation.  So multiple answers were needed to be explored to continue moving forward in her goal of quitting smoking. She ended up quitting because she didn't want her son to start smoking and she didn't want her cigarettes to control her. 

She also encourages goal setters to change how they look at new beginnings that come with making resolutions.  McNaughton suggests that a new beginning does not need to be the next day or the next week.  "We can have a new beginning right in the next moment. When we say it's a new beginning that means we're putting off the old, we're letting go of what we failed in the past.  We don't need to wait until next year or next week. New beginnings are every moment of every day." 

The concept seems simple but is not always easy.  McNaughton encourages people to ask themselves "will I be one of the 8% that succeed?  We need to remember that we always have an opportunity for a new beginning."