“This is going to be my year!”  … “Ok, this was a little harder than I thought, there’s always next year.”

Does that adage hit a little too close to home for you? I know it does for me. We all try and set lofty goals for ourselves at the start of the new year, but then a few months in we get a little lazier and fizzle out.

That doesn’t mean you’re a failure, it means you’re human!

Today, I want to not bring you down for missing your goals, but simply give you a few things that can potentially help you get a bit more focused and motivated to get back on track to achieving them. Hopefully, these will be quick wins for you and can help get that little boost going to help you take bigger steps.

Let’s get into it!

#1 – Be More Mindful of What You Eat

Listen, you can spend hours upon hours on the internet finding post upon post about healthy eating, fad diets, etc. It can be hard to siphon good info through complete nonsense for some people.

I’m no medical or fitness expert, but what I can tell you is that you can take tremendous steps for your health this year by just being more mindful when it comes to your food choices.

Check Ingredients

Be aware of what ingredients are in your regularly bought household items. Have you ever looked at the label and seen all of the additives that certain foods have? It can be scary to look at. A good rule of thumb would be the less ingredients, the better.

Of course, this isn’t always the case, so always take information like this with a grain of salt. (Oh, and maybe eat less salt.)

Slow Down on Fast Food

For some people’s line of work, it may be almost impossible to completely eliminate fast food. Plus, how could you when places like Chik-fil-a exist?

But, if it’s part of your regular routine to eat out more often than you cook at home, this would be a great starting point to try and wean slowly to making more at-home meals. We’re not all built to be Gordon Ramsay, but we can certainly do our best!

YouTube is filled with many different content creators with all sorts of different niches whether you’re cooking for a family, just yourself, or anything in between-!

#2 – Try Different Vitamins, Supplements, or CBD Products

Getting the right vitamins and supplements can be a huge benefit to your overall health. And no, I’m not saying we all have to be like Chris Traeger from Parks and Rec, but I’m sure we would like to try and be!

While choosing the right vitamin can depend on different factors such as:

• What ailments are you currently suffering?
• What medical conditions do you have?
• Are you living in an area where' you might be deficient of a type of vitamin your body needs?

All of these are important questions and should be discussed with a medical professional. The same goes for any supplements for my fellow gym-goers out there.

Pumping yourself full of pre-workout, or other related supplements shouldn’t be done without proper research and physician consultation.

What About the Recent CBD Craze

I’ve talked to a lot of my friends about CBD recently, as it’s becoming more of a buzzword today.

“Isn’t that weed? Won’t that get me high?”

I’m not a CBD expert, but I am a large proponent of it now after using it the past year or so. There are many different types of CBD, but the most common types that you can buy do not contain THC, the chemical compound found in Cannabis that gives you the “high” effect.

CBD is derived from the cannabis plant, and much like cannabis has been shown by research to have many health benefits, such as:

• Helping with anxiety and depression
• Relieve certain types of pain
• Help treat and manage addictions
• And much more.

Again, I’m not a CBD expert, in fact, I knew very little about it. In my research, I came across a website and actually emailed them to ask some questions. The team was very helpful and I learned quite a bit from them. There are many other sources you can find for CBD research as well, like medical journals such as:

• Health.harvard.edu
• Webmd.com
• Healthine.com

#3 – Get Yourself a Personal Planner / To-Do List

This one can save your life. Maybe not literally, but, you never know.

One of the things that I have struggled with personally has been to get myself motivated to tackle some of the tasks that I know need to get done.

Sometimes I’m exhausted after work, and sometimes Netflix just gets in the way. If this is you, don’t sweat it, we all do it!

But, one thing that can be a great help is getting yourself a personal to-do list. Even putting small things on the list to start, can be such a great motivator for yourself. Even things like:

• Make the bed in the morning
• Quick 5 minute reading/meditation before work
• Drink 1 cup of water first thing in the morning
• …(or any other small example that applies to you!)

The little rush of dopamine you can get from checking something off your to-do list is a great feeling that can jump-start your day for the better!

Remember, start small, and build up to making better habits. Just stick with it, because it can take anywhere' from 18 to 254 days to make a lasting habit!