5 weeks into those New Year's Resolutions... 4 steps to keep yourself on track!

This is where the rubber meets the road, both figuratively and literally in this case.  It's 5 weeks past that day where everyone decides, with 20 minutes left before the ball drops, that they are going to eat better, spend less time on social media, stop drinking sodas, workout 4 days a week, read the entire Bible in a year, and run 1,000 miles in 2015.
Statistically speaking, if you've made it this far, you have decent chances at continuing.
Statistically speaking if you make it to April 1st you have a better than decent chance at continuing.
and....
Statistically speaking, you've already quit.  4 weeks ago.
So, what do we do?  How do we avoid this:

First:  You Have to have a support system.  If you're trying to eat right and your spouse is eating a box of Hot Light KrispyKreme donuts, you're going to fail (seriously - just ask my wife ;)

My brother likes to work out.  I like to workout.  At the box gym at my church I would go "fairly regular".  At the gym that he went to on his own, he would go "fairly regular".  I recently moved about 20 minutes closer to him and for the first time in our lives we are able to workout together.  So now, guess what?  We don't miss.  Okay, "hardly ever miss".  We both have 2 kids and we meet at the gym at 5:30am so occasionally we do still have 

But it's considerably less often than if we were trying to do this on our own.

Second:  Set goals.  And "yeah, you're right, I should totally increase my squat some this year" doesn't work.  Pretty much ever.  write your goals down.  Than make your goals measurable ("To increase my backsquat 15% by December 31"), and if you can, share your goals with someone else.  Or, a lot of someone else's.  

Third:  Make your goals difficult while still being attainable.  If your current squat is 110# (bruh) than setting a goal of 450 isn't "difficult but attainable".  Everyone is different.  Everyone will experience gains differently.  Gains will come at different paces based on how long you've been lifting and how good your form already is (ie if you're brand new to lifting and your form sucks, than working out 4 days a week while getting good form down will yield huge increases where as someone who has been lifting steadily for 3 years and already has optimal form will experience much more incremental gains).  Think 15%-33% to start off.  "Know thyself"

Fourth:  Make yourself accountable to your goals.  Back when I turned 30 (I have an early year birthday) I wrote down 30 goals.  Called them my "30 for 30" goals and then I shared them, at the beginning of the year, on facebook.  

So, at that point I had written goals, I had measurable goals, I had attainable goals, and I had broadcast them so people would expect to hear how I did (good or bad).

If you've already quit, start again today!  Put these 4 steps in motion and let's do this!  AROO!