It’s January 23rd. How are those resolutions working out for you? Have you built habits and systems that will result in the accomplishment of your goals, or have you given up on them three weeks into the new year?

According to a recent article in the U.S. Sun, this past Monday, January 16th, is the most depressing day of the year, officially referred to as Blue Monday. The article cites multiple reasons why this day is the bleakest of the year for many Americans, including seasonal impacts such as less daylight, winter weather and holiday-related credit card debt.

One of the other primary reasons jumped out at me. The article also cited people giving up hope of accomplishing their New Year’s Resolutions. It seems that the best intentions to make meaningful life changes easily fall by the wayside for most people in a short amount of time. In fact, of the 38.5% of people that even bother making resolutions in the US, 23% of them quit by the first week, and a majority quit by the second Friday of January, referred to by some as “quitter’s day” for good reason.

Why do so many of us fail at our goals? What is so difficult about accomplishing something we profess to want? We want the outcome, but refuse to put in the work. For example, someone wants to start a business. They see other people successfully operating similar businesses, achieving their own dreams. We see the success of others and want to replicate it. But most of us don’t really want the life that person has. Odds are they’ve worked their butts for years, maybe even decades, sacrificing so much to build their business. Most people aren’t willing to put in the work required to build a successful business, a successful relationship, a thriving life.

It’s the same with fitness. Most people know what they need to do to lose fat and get to a healthy body composition. Very few do those things. They want the outcome without the inputs. You don’t produce a fit body without the dedication to the process of producing it. Effort in the gym, discipline in your diet, good sleep hygiene, etc.

It’s About the Process

Whatever your goals, if you won’t do the process, you’ll never have the results.

And the process isn’t something you can do every now and then. Whatever your goals, daily, disciplined execution over more time than most people are comfortable with is the only thing that gives you a chance at consistently accomplishing your goals. If you want the results, learn to love the process. Live the process in the daily tasks that continue to move you closer to your goals. Find someone to hold you accountable for taking the actions you need to accomplish your goals.

In that spirit of accountability, I thought I’d start off this blog by sharing my goals for 2023. This past year was rough for me. I spent the entire year trying to end my marriage of 26 years, negotiating all of the items that come up with a family split: finances, housing, division of assets, etc. Oh, and while I was doing that, I was also undergoing treatment for brain cancer. I am happy to report that I won the cancer fight, although it took a toll on my body. I’m still working on wrapping up the divorce…

So, my goals for the coming year center on the following categories: Fitness, launching Navel Gazing (this blog), personal development, and relationships.

Fitness

I found the gym in my mid thirties. Exercise was never my thing, nor had I ever been an athlete. I quickly fell in love with strength training. The discipline, the process, the visible progress. I went from pudgy to gym rat status in a fairly short time, which is an easier task when you have the hormones of a 30-something male.

Since that time, I’ve always been relatively fit until recently. Seven months of chemo and one bone marrow transplant later, and my body composition has changed dramatically. I’m looking to get my pre-chemo body back. I’ll be pursuing the following fitness-related goals this year.

1. Body Fat – I started back to the gym at 29% body fat. My goal is to be under 18% by the end of the year. I’ll monitor my progress monthly. I’ll track my calories and macros daily and will lift 3 days per week and do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) twice per week.
2. Strength – On my 49th birthday, I set a goal to deadlift 400 pounds by my 50th birthday, 12/31/2021. I was on target to hit that goal when I collapsed with a seizure on November 1st of that year. That seizure led to a brain cancer diagnosis, ending my ability strength train for many months. My new goal is to deadlift 450 pounds by my 52nd birthday, 12/31/2023. While I realize that strictly pursuing a specific weight with one exercise may seem vain or ego-fueled, I know to hit that weight on my deadlifts, I’ll need consistency in all my strength training efforts. Ego isn’t always a bad thing, and it can be leveraged to develop discipline to accomplish your goals.
3. T-shirt – I have this t shirt. One that I always loved how I looked when I wore it. It was a regular staple in my wardrobe for band gigs. Since cancer, I can’t fit into it. I will by June 1st for my summer band shows. I have a picture of me wearing it on stage from a couple years ago taped to my vision board to remind me of my fitness goals.
4. Stay Cancer Free – Obviously this is mostly beyond my control, but I am hopeful that good diet and exercise disciplines will help keep me in remission long term

Blogging

I’ve always had a passion for writing and personal development. I have started this blog to combine these two passions, to help people, connect with people, and to hopefully earn some income. Setting goals for this item has been difficult, as I’ve never done anything like this before, and I don’t know what I don’t know, but I’m launching. If these are dramatically off base, I’ll pivot when it seems appropriate.

My goals for this blog for 2023 are:

1. Be consistent in posting content on a schedule basis, minimum of 1 article per week
2. Gain 100 subscribers to the blog by the end of the year
3. Earn $1,000 in one month by the end of the year

My initial goals are mostly around driving traffic and building readership through the consistent generation of quality content posted here and cross linked to other platforms. I’m excited to engage and interact with new readers, and I hope that I can bring some positive vibes to my small corner of the internet.

Personal Development

This area is tough for me to set measurable goals. I intend to track the reading of at least 15 books this year. These books will be in the areas of faith, productivity, and learning how to develop and expand this blog. I realize that reading books on its own doesn’t mean I’ve developed personally in any way, as the growth comes through the application of learning.

But, learning is the first step, and the easiest to measure. As I read these books, I will use journaling and my habit tracker to apply and assess the principles, concepts and relevant tools I have learned about in these books.

Relationships

This category is also a difficult one to measure. I have chosen to focus on the relationships with my adult sons, and will monitor a weekly reaching out (preferably via a voice call, but texting may work too) to touch base on how their week is going and what is going on in their lives. Again, this is more of a process measure than an outcome measure, but seems to be the best approach to ensuring I’m in frequent contact with my sons.

Wrapping Up

So, that’s it. My goals as they currently stand. I’d love to hear your feedback on what you like, what you think I could improve on, and how I better accomplish them.

I’ll be following up mid-year with another post to provide a status update on how I’m accomplishing these goals