Get the Most Out Of 2025 With These Four Goal-Setting Tips
Before we get to the blog, I want to say a couple of things. Firstly, I hope you all had the best possible 2024. Like any year, I’m sure you had some ups and downs, but as long as we do our best, we’re succeeding in life. Secondly, I wanted to say a very heartfelt thank you to anyone reading this. Whether you’re a Keen Physique client or simply follow what I do, I cannot express how much your support means to me.
Now *deep breath* onto 2025.
New Year’s Resolution-er or not, the ability to draw a line in the sand as we paddle away from 2024 is so valuable to approaching a new year with some intention.
Here’s four tips to get the most out of your year:
1. Start With Some Reflection
This may be a cherry-picked example, but sometimes your health-focused New Year’s Resolution is strongly influenced by a Christmas holiday period filled with yummy food and drink. This leads to big decisions being somewhat of an emotional reflex to what you deem as not an ideal December.
Instead, to get the most out moving forward, I recommend that you first look back over your entire year. Reflection is a powerful tool that allows you to properly assess areas of your life, determine times of success and struggle, and work out why. The more knowledge and clarity we gain, the more effectively we can apply S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound).
2. There's More To Health Than Your Physical Appearance
In the previous point I discussed reflecting on areas of your life, and despite being a personal trainer with a focus on strength training, I’m referring to more than just your physical health. My motto at Keen Physique is “Find Your Balance”, as I truly believe the key to your healthiest & happiest life is fulfilment across many facets. The following are examples of what I value highly. I’d like to ask you – when it comes to things you value, how was your balance throughout 2024? What do you need more, or less of, for 2025?
- Job satisfaction
- Rest & recovery (time-off, holidays etc)
- Social life
- Hobbies & skill-learning
- Relationship satisfaction (family, friends, partner/s)
3. I Challenge You - Don't Make A Weight Loss Goal
There’s nothing wrong with having a weight loss goal, but I encourage you to take power away from pure appearance being the dominating marker of ‘health’. Gone are the days where we have lines of thought such as “When I reach ‘X’ kg, I will look/feel good”. When the entirety of your success is built around an arbitrary number, you kind of miss the chances to truly appreciate what you have, and how you feel along the way. Being your strongest & healthiest is multi-faceted, requiring a combination of healthy habits, which leads me to…
4. Play The Long Game
Yes. This is the big one. To explain this adequately, I will use the stereotypical but very real New Year’s Resolution example of increased gym memberships. It’s well-known that January sees a spike in gym numbers, only to dwindle in February. The reason for this is someone may set what is a really valid physical goal, but believes the only way to get there is by going guns-blazing with 10,000 steps per day, a nutrition program, and 4 workouts per week, when beforehand, life looked nothing like this. It starts strong, but very soon becomes SUPER hard to maintain and drops off.
My recommendation? Set a big goal, but understand and appreciate that IT WILL TAKE TIME. It may require many changes to your current life, changes that CANNOT happen simultaneously. So, break them into tiny chunks, focus on one thing at a time, make it a part of your life, and THEN build. For one month you may go for another walk each week, the next month you may have added a few more veggies to your diet, then you’ve started to drink more water and have 7hrs of sleep each night. These are wins, and what add up to the bigger picture.
You may not achieve your big goal or resolution in a year, and that’s ok. But you’ll get to the next pre-determined time of December 31st where you’ll draw a line in the sand, reflect on 2025, and feel proud of the positive changes you’ve made to your life.