What an honor to contribute to Strong Magazine's Jan/Feb 2020 Goal Setting Issue (which just hit the newsstands!) While Katelyn Swallow starts off with the fact that 80% of goals aren't achieved, she also jam packs it with solutions from around the world!

50-80% of New Year's Resolution goals are abandon by the 2nd week of January! If you find your goals crushing your "can do" spirit, or you've abandon your new start intentions all together, let's reclaim success right now.

Here are 5 steps I'm adding to reframe your goals for 2020 success:

Step 1: Rate the intention 1-10.

Most New Year's goals begin with a wonderful intention to do something for health, wellness, benefit of others . . .. Many times we can't even name the "why," other than it lifts our spirit. We feel like a cloud of something is being lifted when we state the intention.

For example, if your goal was to "eat better," and maybe you tried to add a side salad every day, chances are you actually felt better (maybe it was a sense of clarity, ease, or just a feeling). However, you found that you stopped doing this after a week. Maybe you were tired of chopping salad. Maybe you tried to only eat salad and found yourself starving.

Take a moment with your own goals and simply ask "how important is that to me on a scale of 1-10?" "In my gut, do I feel compelled to to XYZ, and how strong is that feeling?" If it is more than a 5, stick to it and remember you don't have to be a 100% new you; maybe start with 50% of the time. Don't feel like you have to name the "why" or justify yourself.

Step 2: Examine the social cost.

Most goals have a social cost. For example, if your goal was to eat better, you may have discovered that your kids were complaining that they couldn't have mac & cheese for dinner every night. Maybe your family was guilting you in that they had spent all weekend making the family's best recipes, and your not fully partaking wasn't acceptable. Maybe you developed FOMO from turning down happy hour. Maybe your regular weekend hangout crew stopped calling you to go out for drinks, and you are worried that your friends won't be your friends anymore.

Ask yourself three questions:

1. Do you want your outcome enough that you are willing to set boundaries and consistently stick to them?

2. In one sentence, what is your boundary phrase and what trigger does it go with? For example, maybe an invitation to happy hour is my trigger to consume alcohol, but my goal is one glass of wine per week with my significant other. My boundary phrase might be, "I'm working on a goal that is really important to well being, and alcohol isn't consistent with where I'm going. Would you be open to us making a time next month to catch up over coffee or a walk?"

3. Are you willing to take the scary leap and see what new social spheres develop?

Coming from a fitness competition background, I will admit, you will lose a lot of friends when you change into a health or wellness lifestyle. Your current social circle is going to keep doing there thing. Your new habits will fit with some in that circle, but other relationships will start falling off.

Step 3: What daily changes have you made?

Most goals require action steps. The action steps are usually daily habits you perform consistently. For example, I was working with someone that wanted less back pain. She sees me once in a while and mostly wants massage. However, we've discussed that chronic sitting posture is the main contributing factor. As much as I want to help, a once-in-a-while massage isn't enough to make a lasting change away from back pain.

As a step to undo the daily muscle tension, we agreed that she would try yoga. She did have a background in movement, so even starting with a 10 minute YouTube video would be wonderful. 10 minutes of YouTube yoga each day, working within her body and not pushing into pain, would be the kind of daily consistency appropriate to start moving toward feeling better.

Many of us set the intention, but forget about what the daily supporting action will be to support alignment toward the new you. Look at your intention/goal and see if you can name one daily change you commit to, then get it done. Make it non-negotiable, like brushing your teeth.

If you're saying "wait, one change is too small!" stop there. While most goals have many action steps, the success hides in how they are layered over time. Most of us have tried to tackle the world all in a day, but found we just couldn't get in everything we wanted to. When we have a single goal, the success rate is close to 80%. If we start distributing attention among many, most people lose steam quickly and both the outcome and the supporting tasks are abandon within the month. Once you master one habit, then stack in another.

Step 4: Examine the environment.

Maybe you wanted to start working out; you tried a new gym or fitness class, and you walked away hating it. So many times, it either comes down to mindset or environment.

For example, if you tried a new fitness class and walked out feeling defeated and like others were judging you, that's OK; most of us have this feeling at some point. I remember my first few years in a gym, clinging to the treadmill like my life depended on it. I didn't want others judging my form when I was new to weightlifting.

First, most people in the gym or fitness classes are so busy thinking about keeping their body moving in the right direction, as well as everything else they need to get done that day, that they don't have time to even think about what you might be thinking.

Second, did you introduce yourself to people? Instead of hiding in the locker room until one minute after the class started, and then leaving five minutes early, did you make time to get there early and introduce yourself to the instructor? Did you introduce yourself to the person next to you? Phones make it so easy to hide our social anxiety too; put it down! Many times, the actions to start connecting to the community lie in your court. Showing up is the first step; taking ownership based actions is what makes the difference. A simple "hi my name is, and I'm new here. What's your name?" can go a long way.

Second, if you didn't feel right in the environment, segment the experience. Ask yourself what was good about it. You can take the good pieces and then try different ways to engage with the good parts. Maybe the gym was too far away during rush hour; is there a different time of day that would work, or a different gym? Maybe the class felt way too easy or way too hard overall; is there a different class you could try? Maybe the idea of boxing sounded wonderful, and you had such fog head after class you couldn't make it through the rest of the day. Maybe you could change nutrient timing, or try a different lower intensity style class?

I remember my experience becoming a Spinning instructor. Everyone around me was raving about spinning. They loved the motivation and intensity; they'd come away bragging about the 600-800-1000 calories they'd burned. Honestly, I'd never tried spinning, but it seemed so wonderful, I went and got a Spinning certification and started teaching class.

I quickly discovered that no matter how I set the seat, my knees hurt. A lot. On the bike, I'd also get so shaky because I wasn't used to burning through blood sugar so fast. I'd drink a liter of juice just to get through it, and all that sugar was definitely not aligned with my goals. It didn't take long before I changed to teaching other formats like yoga and Pilates, as I felt amazing instead of completely fogged after those classes.

What can we learn from that? Different kinds of fitness environments suit different people. This goes beyond fitness into work, volunteering, and your other goals too. If the environment isn't making you happy, parse out the good, and then take those elements to new environments to see what sticks.

Step 5: Assess your needs.

Many times you get going on a new goal or project and discover there is quite a bit more depth than you had seen on the surface. Think back to your education. Maybe you are a nurse. On the surface you loved the idea of helping people and probably had personal or family experiences where a nurse really made a difference in caring and maximizing quality of getting back to wellness. When you went to nursing school, however, you discovered all new terminology, science, and research studies. Maybe you discovered that you didn't like reading medical research and the idea of doing that 15-30 hours +/week was making you miserable, conversely maybe you loved the depth of information and discovered an unquenchable thirst for learning leading to your degree and career.

Setting goals is similar; there is usually more hiding under the superficial goal that leads you into a new journey of discovery. On this journey, you may often find points at which you need more motivation, accountability, or knowledge. Here is where personal goals come up against a wall and fall off. Instead, be resourceful. Ask yourself, what do I need right now, and start seeking coaches or other resources to help move forward. Remember, goals, like many things in life have ups and downs in a non-linear journey. When you hit the valley, instead of abandoning the goal, ask "how can I _____?" Then start doing!

I hope that these 5 tips to reclaim your goal success help you now, or throughout the year too.

Looking for more wonderful goal setting tips to reignite your 2020 success? Grab the January 2020 issue of Strong Magazine. Katelyn Swallow, Editor-in-Chief at Strong Australia, has literally scoured the globe to bring together a collaboration of novel perspectives to re-launch your 2020!

Happy 2020!