What are your power moves for 2023?
Every new year heralds a collective resolution to improve our lives. Far and away, health and wellness are the most popular resolutions in the new year. Unsurprisingly, most people break their resolutions by the middle of February. In fact, some studies suggest that New Year's resolutions have a failure rate of about 80%. So, when setting your health goals for 2023, instead of labeling them New Year's resolutions, think of them as power moves and play the long game.
If your ultimate power move in 2023 is to improve your health, break it down into specific goals, such as improving bone health. Setting specific goals enables prioritization and allows you to make conscious choices.
Here are some proven ways to help you achieve your power moves for 2023.
Setting Your Power Moves
Failing to plan is planning to fail, so the adage goes. Define your power moves for 2023, write them down, and describe them vividly. That helps you narrow your focus and provides the mental clarity you need to weed out distractions.
Setting clear and specific goals aligns your thoughts with your actions, which sets the stage for success. It also allows you to break down large goals into smaller bite-sized ones that deliver deliberate and consistent wins all year.
Ideally, your power moves should be SMART—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Once you've written them down, you should create a log to help you track and measure your progress.
Achieving Your Goals
Even after setting SMART goals, achieving them may very well feel overwhelming. And that's understandable because the human brain is uncomfortable with change—until you demonstrate that the change is harmless.
Achieving new goals means breaking old habits, some of which may have become part of your self-identity. That creates some internal tension you must surmount before making your power moves. Rather than relying on brute force to scuttle these objections, it's best to ease into them.
Write your goals on paper: Writing goals on paper makes them tangible and drives your commitment to achieving them. It provides you with a motivating reference point that you can revisit regularly.
Keep them visible: After writing your goals on paper, display them prominently. Stick them on your fridge, bathroom mirror, computer, or anywhere you can readily view them.
Use the goal ladder approach: Break each goal into smaller ones to make it more digestible. Have the primary goal on the top rung and the smaller goals that'll help you achieve it on the ladder steps.
Create an action plan: An action plan takes out the guesswork and shows how you'll achieve each goal. Write a detailed, step-by-step plan with the steps you'll need to take to accomplish each goal.
Take action: Since you have a clear plan of what to do and how to do it, it's time to put it into motion and make your moves. Cross off each step in your action plan and work your way to the top.
Identify potential obstacles: Be realistic and note the challenges and how they might hinder your progress.
How to Stay Motivated
Staying motivated can be the one of the biggest challenges. Once the novelty wears off, you must rely on grit and determination to carry you through your new journey's highs and lows. Here are some tips to keep you motivated:
Define your why: Dig deep and identify the main reason driving you to set each goal. For instance, if you wish to be healthier in 2023, the main reason could be to lower your medical bills and increase your quality of life.
Find like-minded people: Sharing your goals with like-minded people is highly motivating. It's an opportunity to share progress, discuss obstacles, and brainstorm ways to accelerate your journey. Consider joining the BHOF online community.
Visualize your success: Take the time to visualize what achieving your goals will feel like. How will you look and feel after you've achieved a significant goal, such as dropping 30 pounds? How will your family and friends react? Can you imagine the shock, surprise, the compliments? Use them as a source of motivation.
Have an accountability partner: Going alone on a journey can be highly demotivating. A supportive, accountability partner will help you stay the course through the highs and the lows. They will ensure you don't despair and give up whenever the going gets tough. It also spurs you into action, so you don't let them down.
The Best Power Moves for 2023
Staying healthy and well remains a critical life goal in 2023. This year, however, you can take it a step further and prioritize your bone health. Here are a few power moves to help keep your bones in the best health in 2023.
Eat Healthily and Get Creative in the Kitchen
Eating fresh, healthy foods is practically guaranteed to help improve your overall health and wellness. Take it a little further by ensuring you consume foods rich in calcium and vitamin D to keep your bones strong and healthy as you age. You can get vitamin D from food, sunlight, or supplements to help your body absorb calcium from your diet. If you love cooking, trying out new recipes can be one of your power moves in 2023. Plenty of new and exciting recipes will have you cooking delicious meals that will boost and support your bone health.
Get Enough Physical Activity
Getting on a regular exercise program is an incredible power move in 2023. Weight-bearing and strengthening exercises have the unique ability to help you build and maintain bone density. Remaining physically active as you grow older help protect your body from osteoporosis, a crippling bone disease that can drastically lower your quality of life.
Join a Yoga Class
Yoga is the ultimate power move if you wish to safeguard your bone health without the rigors of joining a gym. Besides helping you improve your bone health, yoga can improve your strength, balance, agility, and posture, minimizing the risk of fractures and falls.
Develop a Mindful Mindset
Teaching your mind to slow down in a fast-paced world is one of the best power moves you can pull in 2023. Mindful meditation teaches your mind to shift into a lower gear while easing you into a relaxed frame of mind. It gives you the mental resilience you need to achieve your goals in 2023 while boosting your health and well-being.
Make Your Moves and Make 2023 Your Best Year Yet
Most new year plans fail because people fail to create a concrete action plan. Pairing realistic goals with a detailed step-by-step action plan to support your power moves will help you overcome obstacles. Breaking each goal into its components makes the transition painless and effortless.