You make New Year’s resolutions stick by removing the roadblocks before they appear and starting in November — setting the goal, communicating it, scheduling it, gathering the knowledge you need, and beginning now instead of January 1. Most resolutions fail by February because people wait. In this Physical Friday I count down five ways to eliminate the roadblocks so your resolution actually survives the year.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
By eliminating the roadblocks in advance and starting in November rather than January 1. Counting down: set the goal now, communicate it to the people in your life, set the schedule, gather any knowledge you need, and start now. Most resolutions fail by February or March because people wait until the new year to figure out the basics. Doing the prep work early removes the obstacles before they ever show up.
Because waiting until January 1 means scrambling to figure out where the gym is, what your schedule will be, and how you will actually do it — all at once, under pressure. Starting in November gives you time to set the goal, build meaning around it, prepare your family and schedule, and develop the habit gradually. By January 1 you are only adding a little to an established routine instead of starting from zero.
First, set a specific goal now — a weight to lose, a behavior to change, hitting the gym five days a week, running a marathon — so you have time to think about it and give it meaning. Then communicate it to the people in your life so it is not a surprise on January 1. Tell them what the goal is and how they can support you, so they can help set aside the time and make it an enhancement rather than a strain.
Because a goal without a time on the calendar collides with real life. If you plan to hit the gym five days a week, decide exactly when, and make sure your spouse and family know, so it enhances your life instead of creating strain at home. Setting the schedule in November lets you make adjustments before you start, so on January 1 everyone already knows what is going to happen.
Start now. If your goal is the gym five days a week and you have set the goal, communicated it, scheduled it, and gathered the knowledge, then begin in November with just one day a week. That is a small commitment, and you can add a little at a time through December. By January 1 you are only adding a couple of days a week to an existing habit instead of overhauling your life overnight.
I make Physical Friday for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen who want to stay strong and capable for life. I walk through the full breakdown in the audio above, so press play and listen along.
I love New Year’s resolutions because they are a natural time to reflect and change, but most never get met — it is literally how gyms make their money, signing up January crowds who vanish by March. When I look at my own failed resolutions and other people’s, the same roadblocks show up every time. The good news is they can be removed. I lay out the pattern in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The countdown starts with setting a specific goal now in November, so you have time to give it real meaning, and then communicating it to your family and friends. When the people around you know the goal and how to support you, it stops being a January 1 surprise and becomes something they help protect. I explain how to frame that conversation in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Next is setting the actual schedule — deciding when you will train and making sure home life is on board — and then gathering any knowledge you need. Do you know where the gym is, do you have a membership, do you need to meet a trainer? Handle it in advance so January 1 is not a scramble. I walk through how I prep both in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The top way to eliminate every roadblock is to start now. If the goal is five days a week, begin with one day a week in November and build, so by January 1 you are only adding a couple of days to a habit you already own. Little by little beats overnight every time. I get into how to ramp it in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Press play in the player above to get the full breakdown.
Resolutions do not fail because people lack willpower. They fail because the roadblocks were never cleared and the start was delayed until the hardest possible moment.
Set the goal, communicate it, schedule it, learn what you need, and start now. Listen to the full countdown by pressing play in the player above.
New Year’s resolutions · goal setting · habit building · accountability · scheduling · gym membership · marathon training · Physical Friday
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I am Tom Rowland — a Florida Keys fishing guide for more than 30 years, a competitive angler, a lifelong CrossFit athlete, and the host of the Tom Rowland Podcast. I started Physical Friday because staying strong, mobile, and durable is what lets all of us keep hunting, fishing, and chasing the outdoors for life. I train the same way I want you to: simple, consistent, repeatable.
Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 829: 5 Ways to Eliminate Roadblocks for Successful New Year's Resolutions
In this episode: set the goal now in November — communicate this goal to the people that are in your life — actually setting that schedule — knowledge — and start now.
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Tom Rowland: What's going on, everybody? It's physical Friday, and we're glad you're here. For many people in the country, you've gotten the first little bit of winter. And the cold fronts are coming across, and it's pretty exciting for the fishing people because we know what happens in the wintertime. For a lot of the fishing, it makes the bait move around. We get some different fish happening, kinda stirs things up a little bit. But for other people, the first little bit of winter also means that you start thinking about the upcoming Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then, of course, the New Year.
Tom Rowland: And the New Year comes with resolutions. I love New Year's resolutions because I think it's a good place and time to reflect on where you are in your life. And if you need to make any changes, it's a convenient time because lots of other people are kind of encouraging you for New Year's resolutions, but New Year's resolutions often are not met. In fact, that's how gyms make their money is they get a lot of people to sign up for the gym in January. And by February or March, most of them don't come, but you pay for your membership for the entire year for six months or whatever.
Tom Rowland: It's a very common thing. There are roadblocks that come with making New Year's resolutions and actually sticking to them. Some people are really good at it. Some people are not. And when I look at the people that are unsuccessful and when I look at my own New Year's resolutions that I've made over the years and did not meet, there are some things that are pretty common and some things that stand out as roadblocks, and those roadblocks can be eliminated. So when I feel the first cool air of the season and I think about New Year's resolutions, I think about five ways that you could eliminate roadblocks and have success with your New Year's resolutions starting in November.
Tom Rowland: At number five, I'm gonna say set the goal. Set the goal now in November for what you plan on doing. Is there a certain amount of weight that you're trying to lose? Is there a certain amount of, are you gonna change a behavior? Are you gonna try to hit the gym five days a week? Are you gonna join a new gym? Are you going to run a marathon? Whatever it is, whatever your goal is for the year, set it now. Now you have time to think about it. You have time to create a meaning for that goal in your own life, and do that now in November so you go ahead and set that goal.
Tom Rowland: Coming in at number four is to communicate this goal to the people that are in your life. What is the goal? How can they be supportive? Is this gonna be a big surprise when it comes to January 1 and you say you wanna learn you wanna get your black belt in karate or you want to run a marathon or you want to start doing jujitsu or whatever. Is this gonna be a big surprise or can you talk about it now and communicate this with your family and loved ones so that they can set aside the time or that you can set aside the time so that you can do this and it will be an enhancement.
Tom Rowland: Number three is actually setting that schedule. If you're gonna go to the gym five days a week, what time are you gonna go? Would your family need to know about that? Would your wife or husband need to know about what time you're gonna go to the gym? Is that going to enhance your life, or is it gonna create more strain at home? And these are all the things that you can do now in November so that you can find that right time to be able to go, so that you can make the adjustments necessary before you even get started so that, first of all, you've communicated what the goal is. You set the goal. You've communicated the goal. And now you're setting the schedule, and everybody will know exactly what's gonna happen come January 1.
Tom Rowland: Number two is knowledge. Is there something that you need to learn, or is there someone you need to meet in order to be able to be successful with this goal? So in other words, if you're gonna try to go to the gym five days a week starting January 1, do you know what the gym is? Do you know where it is? Have you been in there? Do you have a membership? All of these things can be laid out well in advance. Do you need to meet a trainer? Do you need to meet someone at the running club that you're thinking about joining? Can you go ahead and do those things in advance so that on January 1, you're not scrambling around? And this is another roadblock that you can remove by getting any sort of knowledge that you need in advance.
Tom Rowland: And number one way to eliminate all roadblocks and have success with your New Year's resolutions starting in November is to start now. So let's just say if your goal is to get to the gym five days a week and you've done all of the things leading up to this. You've set the goal. You've communicated that goal. You've set your schedule about when you're gonna do it, and you've learned any amount of knowledge that you're gonna need to be successful at this. Let's start now. So if your goal is to go to the gym five days a week, if you were to start now and get to the gym one day a week, it's not a very big commitment. You already know what time you're gonna do it. You already know where the gym is. You already know all of these things, and you can start to develop that habit in November so that you can add to that step by step, little by little in December. Maybe there's a couple of weeks there where you can go twice a week or three times a week, but you're gonna start with one day a week. In a couple of weeks, maybe it's two days a week. In a few more weeks, it's three days a week. By the time January 1 rolls around, you're only adding a couple of days a week to your schedule to be successful at this goal that you've set.
Tom Rowland: Those are five ways you can eliminate roadblocks and be successful in your New Year's resolution.
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