Who ruined New Years Resolutions?

It's getting to that time of year where we start thinking about them.

And like everything else in the world, marketers have pretty much ruined them (kidding.. sort of)

To marketers, and companies, this is the perfect time to capitalize on making you feel inadequate and offering the PERFECT thing to get you on the right path.

Don't listen to them. Ignore it all (well most of it anyway). Most appeal of them appeal to short-term thinking and are setting you up for failure. There's a reason gym usage peaks in January and then drops back down in February

You need to dig deep. Find out what it is you want to change and more importantly why. You should dedicate a solid block of time to this. I know, it's not as fun as clicking "buy now" on a thing. 

It's far too easy for us to get our ideas from ads, or Instagram followers or even from our friends and neighbours are doing.

These things can be the start of a reflection and though exercises, but don't let them be the guiding force.

Want to lose weight? Think about how you can change your lifestyle to be more active in general. Incorporate more walking and movement in your life and add other things in gradually. Try a few things out and see what works for you. Forming life-long habits will pay off in so many more ways than just your body weight and physical appearance.

These life-long habits are never solved by one single product or service, no mater how convincing they may be. In many cases the opposite rings true. Only 8% of people end up keeping their resolution, which means there are 92% of people feeling like they failed (and possibly feeling even worse).

Spend some time really digging into the why. Think about times in your life where you have made change and how it has worked. When you catch yourself thinking about a certain product or service stop yourself and think about why that would help. Try doing the five whys to get back to the root change you want to make. Imagine that there was no easy solution via a product, what would your plan be then?

Get to the why first and then start thinking about potential solutions.