5 smart little ways to tweak your movement goals

And how this all-too-common cognitive distortion can get in the way

It’s forsythia! Symbol of joy, renewal, and the arrival of spring — and according to my on-the-ground reporting, now available in Brooklyn flower bodegas.Photo by Anastasia Krachkovskaya on Unsplash

Look, if your New Year’s resolutions are fully in the rearview mirror, it’s fine, and you’re definitely not alone. I kind of look askance at research that attempts to pinpoint exactly when the average person gives up on a New Year’s resolution — partly because, rude, but partly because the methodology and other elements of the studies often seem a little sus (I’m not even going to link out to these things because it’s not worth your time clicking through and you’ll probably end up seeing some pretty diety content) — but it’s fair to say, if you’re over it already, you’re probably in really good company.

The deeply uncomfortable, way-TMI side effect of what I thought was a knockout January goal

I’d love to encourage you to reconsider, though. Let’s start by talking about all-or-nothing thinking (highly related to perfectionism!), one of the most common cognitive distortions that can get in the way of building a realistic, sustainable relationship with exercise, or working on a movement goal. These are thoughts like:

• I don’t have an hour to exercise, so it’s not worth doing it.

• My knee is bothering me so I can’t run; I’ll just stay home because a walk doesn’t count.

• I missed a few weeks of the workouts I’d planned to do every week this year so I might as well give up; I’ve already failed.

While I haven’t found research specifically linking the two, I have to assume all-or-nothing thinking must be a very common reason that people turn their backs on their New Year’s resolutions. Especially for things you’re trying to do on a regular cadence, like daily or weekly. Miss a day or a week, and it feels like you already failed at your goal, so it’s pointless to keep going.

But it’s not! Any movement you do is so much better than movement you wish you’d done but didn’t get around to, or didn’t let yourself do because you didn’t think it would count. So, with that in mind, let’s consider picking up those goals again. Here’s what to do with them:

1. Try a debrief.

Whether you suspect all-or-nothing thinking is behind your resolution blues, or something totally different, take some time to really think through what happened with your goal. Maybe even journal about it. Did you take steps toward your goal? If so, how did that feel and what made that possible? On the days when you tried and didn’t succeed, what happened? Think through everything from weather to energy levels to how much you slept to who might have been sick in your house.

And while you’re at it, examine how you felt about your goal, and your action or inaction toward it. Do you think maybe you were doing the all-or-nothing thing? What was your inner monologue? Would it be possible for you to look at those thoughts and ask whether they were really true, and whether they were helpful?

You may unpack something here that can help you adjust your goals — or your thinking itself.

2. Consider a quota.

We tried to set goals that avoided all-or-nothing thinking, but if you kinda accidentally did it anyway, one way to flex in February (or March!) is to reframe your goal in more flexible terms. One way to do this that we went over a few weeks ago is to set a quota rather than a cadence — i.e. instead of 3 times a week, why not aim for something like 10 workouts per month? This allows you to throw in an extra or two on a quieter week so that a busy week doesn’t get you too far behind.

Could this small mental shift be the secret to sticking with an exercise routine?

3. Or get vague. (Really!)

OK, I know this sounds kind of wild (and not SMART!), but if even the quota thing above just doesn’t feel right to you and you’re immediately stressed out reading it, it might be time to play with the idea of a more vague, less time-bound movement goal.

This could be super vague, i.e. “Go to the gym more often” (and then, okay, maybe you check your calendar and block off a few times when it feels like you’ll actually do it). Lots of scheduling advice in this piece, btw:

One Simple Secret to More Consistent Exercise

Or it could be vague in terms of frequency but specific in terms of parameters: I’m talking something like, “Go for a walk if the temperature outside is above 40 degrees.” Or, “Don’t let myself wash my hair unless I’ve done 10 push-ups and 10 squats.”

4. Think through the value behind your goal.

As the behavior change specialist Karin Nordin, PhD, told me (and again, apologies for running a really long quote, but it’s just so good IMO!):

“If you want to go for a daily walk, maybe that’s because you value being, or want to be described as, an active person. The quality is ‘active,’ the behavior is ‘go for a daily walk.’ Let’s say one Tuesday there’s torrential rain outside. You can ask yourself, What does an active person, the active version of me, do in this situation? Maybe you jump on your Peloton, or put on some music and dance around with your kids. You have an anchor for how you can be flexible with that behavior and still show up the way you want to show up. People think they need to be more rigid when they actually need to be more flexible. Being flexible is a cognitive skill, and most people are really bad at it because we aren’t trained to do it, unless you’re in the military. The value gives you an automatic built-in mechanism for that flexibility.” — Karin Nordin, PhD

Is it possible that you were being a bit too literal with your goal? If what you really want is to get more cardio into your routine, you don’t have to go for a 30-minute run every day. There are so many other forms of cardio: dancing, biking, walking, burpees (LOL, yeah right, but you do you)! Figure out the value you were going for, and try to broaden the list of actions you can take to engage in the behavior that helps you live out that value. A little menu!

5. Or just ditch it and try something new altogether.

Great news: March 1 is coming up so soon (thank God!), and it’s another chance to enjoy the Fresh Start Effect. Maybe the lesson from the past few weeks is that whatever goal you chose just isn’t the right one for you. That’s ok! Consider picking a new one, giving it a try once or twice, and figuring out whether March and beyond might be a good time to make a habit of it. Ditch the all-or-nothing thinking, and move a little more.

BTW: New strength workout for March (!) coming up on Sunday. See you then!

xo
Anna