A New Month Resolution

Rockstar Research has found an 88% failure rate for the general public's New Year's resolutions. I believe, though, that success rates for goals are higher (or lower percentages) and that there is a big difference between a goal and a resolution. I define goals as having concrete, measurable results that are very objective to measure success (or failure) while resolutions are much more subjective. Resolutions are softer and less tangible. There will be fails in resolutions that are OK but over time resolutions will change behavior, hopefully for the better.

I'm sure that there are a bunch of reasons why people's resolutions fail despite their most noble of intentions. Maybe the resolutions are too lofty. It is difficult to dramatically change behavior that quickly, cold turkey stories aside. Maybe they are not defined right, slipping into the goal category instead. Maybe it is just as simple that in order for a resolution to have significance, it is probably hard.

I don't normally set resolutions but I've decided to set a couple. I'm not going to set them for the length of a year but instead I figured if I started with a few resolutions for just the month of January (a new month resolution) I can see improvement and adjust if necessary.

The two I've decided on for January are:

1. Reduce the amount of soda I drink. I am a soda-holic for lack of a better term. I mostly drink diet, caffeine free soda but I drink a lot of it. I've been known on some days to have soda during breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in between. For January, I'd like to get to the point that some days I don't drink soda at all and other days to just have it with one meal. I'll replace the soda with something healthier - the favorites going in are water, iced tea, or an occasional fruit juice.
2. Increase my strength and flexibility. I do not consider myself physically strong. I started Lisa's sponsored 100 pushup challenge two weeks ago and I'm progressing but slowly (I didn't start week three of the program but went back to week one, column 2 instead of column 1) . I want to continue this program to the conclusion of doing the hundred. I know I might not get there by the end of January but I also want to continue my flexibility program (now called physical therapy for my ITB issues) by introducing some sort of regular flexibility activities.

That's it. Two resolutions. I do have a whole bunch of goals in addition to these resolutions that I'll post within the week but the resolutions are set..... at least for the first month.