Don't be the gym dropout

It's that time of the year! The New Years resolution gym members flock to the gym only to drop out by February, March if they're lucky.

There's probably many reasons why they drop out, but most commonly it's because they don't set goals! Setting goals will keep you focused and you'll be more likely to achieve them.

Here's what I want you to do right now...

Grab a pen and paper (writing the goals makes it more personal). I want you to write down 3 goals.

The first is one you want to achieve over the year, this is your long term goal.
The second is one you want to achieve in 6 months, this is medium term.
Thirdly, this goal should be achieved in 3 months, this is your short term goal.

Each of these goals should be "smart" and has to abide by these rules...

S- specific
M- measurable
A- achievable
R- realistic
T- time bound

An example of a SMART short term 3 month goal could be:

"I will lose 5kg of weight by 1st April 2014"

Once you've done this you can go ahead and break this goal down further. How am I going to achieve this? What do I need to do? Answers could be - exercise at the gym 3 times a week. Take 10,000 steps a day. drink at least 3l of water per day consecutively for 3 months. Eat breakfast to boost my metabolism etc.

Done? Good! You'll thank me for it come April, when you've achieved your first goal and everyone else has crumbled, dropped out and failed!