#34: Small Steps Forward

New Year’s resolutions are oh-so cliché. And yet…

There’s something about the new year, the clean slate, that motivates us to make positive changes. I see it maybe more than a lot of people because of my business, since starting a new workout routine ranks pretty high on the list of all-time-most-cited resolutions. I get it, I really do. It’s more “me” to use every new month—or even week—as a chance to start fresh, but how wonderful it must be to be able to put something you really don’t want to do off for months at a time! I’ll start next year! Really! In 2012 I’ll be ready!

Maybe one of your resolutions this year can be this: Resolve to use each new day—each new hour!—as a jumping-off point for those things you’d really like to see yourself do. Resolve to start now. When you take baby steps—walk just 10 minutes on the treadmill; eat out just one less time a week—your stride gets stronger fast. Soon you’ll be walking 20 minutes and buying new cookbooks. But you can’t rush to the end result. You have to be patient and see those baby steps as part of the entire picture. Without them, you’ll never get to the long strides. The baby steps are all part of the plan. That weight won’t just fall off because you worked out really hard one time. But you’re better off than you were before that one workout.

If I could walk beside all my clients all day long I would, but I can’t. So I hope to be with all of you via FaceBook and my blog for regular motivation and reassurance. Your baby steps will turn into big strong steps, and your one strong step forward/two awkward steps back will turn into two strong steps forward/one glance back, and you will accomplish what you set out to accomplish one step at a time. Here’s to making the hard work of exercise a natural part of your life.