As we kick start the New Year, there’s always one thing on every individual’s mind; their New Year’s Resolution. A popular time to turn a new leaf, resolutions vary from wanting to stay fit, quitting a certain habit, changing your attitude towards life and the list goes on. Well, as the days go by, our willingness to abide by said resolution reduces and eventually vanishes.
If this situation seems familiar, and we’re quite certain it does, you have come to the right place.

We have all been there, where promises are made to ourselves at the beginning of each year and eventually forgotten about in a span of two or three weeks. This 2022, let us ensure that our resolution sticks through the year and not just as a note on the door of your refrigerator. Let us explain a simple technique through a common resolution- trying to work out more often.

Treat life as a game of snakes and ladders, full of ups and downs, highs and lows. Now, what if we said that you can use this very game as an experiment to test how long you can follow your resolution.

Experiment-

To hop on the health wagon and step up your fitness game.

Aim-

To prioritize fitness and be consistent and regular with it.

Apparatus-

1. Chart paper with dates of the month (manually plotted) or a calendar
2. Cutouts of paper snakes and ladders (Click here to download)
3. A cutout of something that resembles you and your goal for 2022. For eg. in this case you could have a cutout of a dumbbell or a salad.
4. Chits of colourful paper /post-its.

Method-

The dumbbell cutout is your main piece that is plotted the board as the days go by. Your journey starts from the first day of the month till the last date on the calendar.

Stick the dumbbell cutouts on each day as you move forward, showcasing your progress in following your diet plan and workout routine.

Draw snakes on dates that are important holidays and birthdays (these will be your cheat days). We all know that one tends to cheat on their resolution during the holidays, be it on their diet or running away from the gym.

Cheat days will act as a test where only one cheat meal is allowed. Be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.

More than one cheat meal will lead to the snake gobbling you up. As a result, do not add dumbbells for the next 2 days (reason: you added those extra calories which need to be burned) . In addition to that, you will have to skip your next cheat meal as well.

We all know that one might want to indulge in an extra cheat meal during the holidays. With the help of our gentle nudges, we’ll make sure you can work your way through that. The small chits of paper/post-its with words of affirmation and motivation are gentle nudges that will provide you with the confidence you need to stick to your resolution and not give into those extra calories.

Here are some positive affirmation that will help-

1. I believe in myself and my ability to finish this workout.
2. I will be the best version of myself today.
3. Each day I am moving closer to achieving my goals.

You have made it to the end of the month! The ladder is where you would plot your monthly progress (ie. the number of dumbbells used). So if in February you have used 20 dumbbells and 22 in March, you will notice an improvement. A visual representation of your progress will also nudge you to do better in the next month.

Once you have successfully made it up the board, take this process forward to the next month and so on.

Result-

After months of conducting this exercise and diet, you will notice your body getting habituated to following a certain lifestyle and that you no longer require a board to keep yourself in check.

This is the part where consistency and regularity comes into play. Making sure you eat healthy and get your workout in every single day, is one step towards this process. Steer clear from snakes and allow yourself to cheat once in a while in limited amounts.

As a result, you will find yourself happier, healthier and consistent.

Remember!

This is only one example of a resolution, this very experiment can be applied to various scenarios in life. Keep the board as visual and a reminder that you can always go back to it when you steer away from your resolution. So this 2022, watch out for the snakes as you climb the ladder of success!.

Image Credits: <a href=”https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/mouth”>Mouth Vectors by Vecteezy</a>