Set up your environment for success

The setup is a big one – but it happened accidentally for most. The pandemic may have forced us into healthier habits simply because of the lockdowns that Canadians faced throughout most of 2021. We couldn’t fake our New Year’s resolution by joining a gym or yoga studio (and then not going). We didn’t have the “I missed spin class” excuse when our indoor trainers were set up permanently, and yoga classes streamed online could be done anytime – no “bad traffic” excuses for skipping class. It turns out, all that was helpful.

“Since January, I’ve lost 25 lb. by changing my diet, plus running and biking, each five times a week. At first the cycling was strictly indoors via rollers, but in the summer, I transitioned to getting outside for rides,” one longtime cyclist who struggled with consistency in the past explained. “The above regimen wasn’t anything I hadn’t tried to do before, but with work and a commute, I found it challenging to develop any consistent training, especially with cycling. This year, without my commute, I had time.”

“Exercising was one thing that could be done across Canada during a pandemic. It’s pretty impressive the number of people who started and stuck with it,” says mental performance consultant for Cycling Canada Valerie Hadd. “To me, what that says about goals is that if you have the ability to free some time in your schedule to do something new, you’ll do it. You’re more likely to succeed when it’s not a challenge to carve out the time you need.”

Before setting your goals for 2022, look at your calendar for both the big picture – family events, work conferences – and daily/weekly current schedules and routines to see what time you have. Then, look at your current environment: what’s helping you stick to goals and what’s keeping you from them?