I’m a Physical Therapist, and These are My New Year Resolution Do’s and Don’ts

With 2025 upon us, many of us will start putting together our New Year’s resolutions. It’s common to struggle with motivation, determination, and confidence. Developing resolutions to start the new year can be a good way to conquer these struggles. Creating effective New Year’s resolutions can help improve your quality of life, self-efficacy, and optimism and help re-balance your life. These resolutions can target your physical health, mental health, athletic abilities, or target your beliefs and behaviors. This blog will cover some do’s and don’ts for creating your resolutions so you can set yourself up for success in meeting your goals.

Do’s

#1: Forgive past failures and view them as lessons learned.

Plenty of us have set goals in the past with our resolutions and may have failed to meet them or given up along the way. Studies show it’s tough to change behaviors and form new ones! Instead of getting frustrated with coming up short, look into your recent struggles to help figure out why you may have faced challenges, and give yourself some grace in the process.

#2: Focus on fostering healthy lifestyle habits

Keeping your overall health at the top of your mind should be key! Find areas where you have struggled with your health and develop resolutions that specifically target those. A few examples could be more frequent or intense exercise, better sleep, better or more consistent eating habits, improved stress management, or better time management.

#3: Set specific and measurable goals

Being too broad with your goals makes your progress harder to track. As a physical therapist, I need to do the same when helping my patients establish goals. Meeting specific marks helps determine how successful you have been and what still needs to be done during the year.

#4: Create a plan to achieve your resolutions

If you’re attempting to make significant changes to your behaviors, you’ll need to plan to make those changes happen. You can’t expect to follow a program that hasn’t been working to change without major tinkering with that program. If you’re attempting to exercise more, start planning and tracking your workouts based on your goals. If you want to improve your nutrition, plan your meals and find useful tools or apps that help track your nutrient or caloric intake.

Don’ts

#1: Avoid setting too many resolutions

You only have limited time and capacity to make significant adjustments. Prioritize your needs and focus on the high-priority areas. Making too many resolutions can reduce motivation and attention when progress isn’t made.

#2: Don’t give up easily

Progress is never a straight line. Mistakes will be made. Tough times can show up. Don’t get too hard on yourself if you cheat on an exercise or nutrition plan during the holidays. A handful of days of indulging will not ruin a full year of progress. Physical therapists relay a similar message to their patients when treating pain and function. As long as the trajectory of your progress is upward, you’re doing just fine!

#3: Try not to compare yourself to others

Everyone has different goals, abilities, starting points, and backgrounds. Comparison is the thief of joy. If you’re at the gym worrying about the person next to you who can push more weight, then you’re focusing on the wrong thing. Keep attention to your well-being and overall progress. You’ll be shocked at the changes you can see in yourself over time!

#4: Don’t just rely on willpower

Making changes can be very difficult. We are products of our environment, and we’re creatures of habit. Utilize the support of family and friends to help keep you going. Find someone you can rely on as an accountability partner to help get you through the difficult times that make you want to give up. No one should be ashamed to seek help or guidance!

The best resolutions are the ones that make you healthier, get you stronger (mentally and physically!), and improve your approach to battles in life. Your physical therapist can be a great resource for your journey if your activity is limited due to aches, pains, or injury. You can seek the guidance of a physical therapist by setting up a free assessment with your local Athletico clinicians. You can also take advantage of Direct Access and start care with your Athletico physical therapist without needing a doctor’s prescription or referral. Take charge of your health today!

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*Per federal guidelines, beneficiaries of plans such as Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, VHA and other federally funded plans are not eligible for free assessments.

The Athletico blog is an educational resource written by Athletico employees. Athletico bloggers are licensed professionals who abide by the code of ethics outlined by their respective professional associations. The content published in blog posts represents the opinion of the individual author based on their expertise and experience. The content provided in this blog is for informational purposes only, does not constitute medical advice and should not be relied on for making personal health decisions.

References:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0234097&orgid=671
https://www.proquest.com/openview/7ad737cf781564aca73ddf588bbf945e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y