January 7, 2025 • 29 mins
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Do you want 2025 to finally be the year you set and achieve your New Year's Resolutions? Want to avoid the traps and pitfalls that keep most people from the finish line?
In this episode, I will discuss effective strategies for setting and achieving New Year's resolutions, particularly focusing on health-related goals but can be used in any important area of life. I will present to you a six-step approach that includes assessing one's baseline, developing focus areas, setting specific and positive goals, building support systems, and refining resolutions as needed.
This episode will give you a chance to personalize these strategies and are research backed so you'll get the best of both worlds to achieve your goals this year. Below the time stamps are a detailed explanation of each step so you can follow along and listen at the same time.
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Step 1: Assess Your Baseline: Holistically assess and reflect on your life. Take your time here as it will make a huge difference in the later steps. Below are some examples and guidelines for this step.
- How are you doing with the 6 pillars: Exercise, Sleep, Nutrition, Mind-Body Harmony, Exposure to Heat/Cold, and Social Relationships
- Assess Your Risk Factor Profile: Metrics including blood pressure, smoking, weight, diabetes, alcohol consumption.
- Preventive Care: getting screening/vaccines.
- Health Type: Knowing your health type and personalizing this process to you.
Step 2: Develop A List of Possible Areas: Make this list as long as you want as we will prioritize and shorten in an upcoming step.
Step 3: Set Your Goals/Resolutions: Set a small number of the most important goals to you on your list and create them in a positive light with additions to your life rather than negatives to stop.
Step 4: Create Your N of 1 Monitoring Approach: Measure your baseline, start the intervention, and measure progress.
Step 5: Build Your Infrastructure of Support: Get support both from external factors (trainers, friends, etc) along with internal habits and tracking.
Step 6: Refine As Needed: You'll probably find you will need to make adjustments along the way and not only is that completely okay but that is expected.
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Research Mentioned In Episode:
1. New Year's Resolution Marist Poll
2. UK New Year's Study
3. Swedish New Year's Study
4. Health As #1 Intended Resolution
5. Gym Membership Lapse Statistic
6. 2 Year New Year's Resolution Study
7. Resolutions vs No Resolutions Study
8. Positive vs Negative Resolution Study
9. Concern For Others Scoring
10. Refining Resolutions and Slips
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Work with Dr. Bobby: https:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Most resolutions fail and that's why I put together
this episode, so hopefully wecan all do better.
Many people say I'm going tojoin the gym.
Well, 80% of gym membershipslapse within the first five
months.
Even though it's six months,46% of people are still at it,
(00:21):
or only 46% are still at it.
People are still at it or only46% are still at it, compared to
people who don't haveresolutions but are also
interested in similar goals.
Only 8% of them are followingthose goals.
(00:48):
Hi, I'm Dr Bobby Du Bois andwelcome to Live Long and Well, a
podcast where we will talkabout what you can do to live as
long as possible and with asmuch energy and vigor that you
wish.
Together, we will explore whatpractical and evidence-supported
steps you can take.
Come join me on this veryimportant journey and I hope
that you feel empowered alongthe way.
(01:10):
I'm a physician, ironmantriathlete and have published
several hundred scientificstudies.
I'm honored to be your guide,to be your guide.
(01:32):
Welcome to episode 26, newYear's resolutions that work,
with personalization andevidence-based strategies.
Well, it's that time of yearwhere New Year's resolutions are
in the air.
Sadly, most of them fail.
Now I've been reflecting whichoften happens this time of year
and wondered is there a moresuccessful approach, more
(01:55):
evidence-based?
After looking at the evidenceand thinking about this really
complex problem, I'd like toshare with you an approach to
New Year's resolutions basedupon six steps.
One assess your baseline.
Two, develop possible areas topursue and then prioritize them.
(02:20):
Three set the actual goals andwe'll talk specifically how
those goals might look.
Four, define your monitoring oryour end-of-one approach.
Five, build an infrastructureto support you.
And six refine as needed.
(02:40):
Now I put this together as away that would be more likely
that I might succeed with my2025 resolutions, but I'm hoping
this might also be useful foryou.
Now, this is the beginning ofJanuary.
You might think, oh no, I'vemissed my window of opportunity.
(03:01):
No, you're perfect.
Window of opportunity.
No, you're perfect.
Perhaps spend January gettingready, going through these six
steps and then kicking it offformally February 1st.
No need to start January 1st,but having a date on the
calendar when you begin isactually, from a scientific
standpoint, very helpful.
(03:22):
If you need help, a couple ofoptions here for you.
The show notes will have thesesix steps in it and some detail.
If you want more detail, I willbe writing a blog.
It'll be on my website shouldbe available when this goes live
and it will have the six stepsand the sub steps and that might
(03:45):
give you some more detail, andmy website is
drbobblivelongandwellcom.
Or, if you need more directhelp, want to work with me again
on my website, there's someoptions for how you might do
that.
Well, let's begin, as I alwaysdo, with my story Now.
I shared some of my story acouple of episodes ago, and that
(04:09):
was my Thanksgiving experience,where I drank more than I
expected alcohol that is thatled to eating more than I had
hoped, getting poor sleep,waking up the next morning,
getting poor sleep, waking upthe next morning having coffee,
(04:29):
and, because I had 25 familymembers in and lots of social
situations, started that wholecycle again the next day and had
four days that were not idealfor my health, and I learned
what my trigger was, which issocial situations, and so, as
I've talked about before, thatwas a kind of a reflective
moment and I realized that I hadstopped doing some of my saunas
and my regular meditation, andso I needed to restart them and
(04:54):
I started to feel better soonafter that.
So, in getting ready for 2025,I thought, well, I need to focus
on those, but there may beother things that I need to work
on as well, and upon reflection, I thought well, I need to
focus on those, but there may beother things that I need to
work on as well, and uponreflection, of course there were
.
Now, although a huge number ofpeople do New Year's resolutions
(05:17):
, there's very little scientificliterature, and I scoured the
literature to see what do weknow.
Now there's a much broaderliterature on how do you change
behavior and personal behavior,and so I'm drawing upon that as
well.
Well, not surprisingly, newYear's resolutions are really
common.
So, in the United States, about44% of us do a New Year's
(05:43):
resolution.
74% of us do a New Year'sresolution.
Now, what's fascinating is, ifyou look at other countries, 74%
50% more than us of folks inthe UK are envisioned doing New
Year's resolutions in 2025.
Why are there more in the UKthan the US?
I don't know.
Well, in the other direction,sweden, only 12 to 18% do New
(06:09):
Year's resolutions.
Again, are they so happy withtheir life that they don't need
to do them?
I don't know.
There's also an age differencein New Year's resolutions.
People who are in their 20s are49% likely to develop or do New
Year's resolutions, but peopleabove age 50, only 21%.
(06:32):
Twice as likely if you're inthat young age group.
Now, if you look at the surveysthat have been done on New
Year's resolutions, done on NewYear's resolutions, health is by
far and away the number onearea in New Year's resolutions.
It could be losing weight, itcould be exercising more, stop
smoking, improving one's healthmore generally.
(06:55):
If you add those all up, youget 60 to 80% of all New Year's
resolutions are health related.
Now, as I said at the outset,most resolutions fail and that's
why I put together this episode, so hopefully we can all do
better.
Now, what are some examples,some data that most fail?
(07:18):
As I said, number one is health.
Many people say I'm going tojoin the gym.
Number one is health.
Many people say I'm going tojoin the gym.
Well, 80% of gym membershipslapse within the first five
months.
So that's a kind of evidencethat most New Year's resolutions
don't continue.
Really interesting study.
Again, there weren't a lot ofstudies of New Year's
(07:40):
resolutions, but this one lookedat 200 people and followed them
for two years to see whathappened.
Well, at week one, 77% ofpeople were working on their New
Year's resolution.
Of course, that means over 20%had already given up in the
first week, but 77% were addedat week one.
By the time they followed themout two years only 19% were
(08:06):
still focused on that issue, andI doubt that's because they
solved the problem.
I'm guessing that they sort ofran out of gas in the process,
as most of us tend to do.
Now I want to leave you with amore positive statistic than
just that one.
Even though it's six months,46% of people are still at it,
(08:29):
or only 46% are still at it.
Compared to people who don'thave resolutions but are also
interested in similar goals,only 8% of them are following
those goals.
Although resolutions often fail, they're much better than not
having anything at all.
All right, enough of background.
(08:49):
Let's get into the six stepsNow.
Let me point out that I'mtalking about I'm focusing upon
New Year's resolutions thatrelate to health, and again,
those are the most common.
But you may have non-healthones as well.
You may have ones that relateto your career, that might
(09:13):
relate to relationships in yourlife.
I'm not focused on those rightnow, but for all the reasons I'm
about to walk through, the samesix steps might be useful for
these other ones as well.
So keep that in mind andultimately you'll need to bring
them all together.
Okay, step number one assessyour baseline.
I suspect most of us don'tspend enough time taking stock
(09:38):
of where are we at the beginningof 2025.
I know I've spent a lot of timethinking about this.
There are seven aspects of ourlives that I think are worth
reflecting upon.
That's why I'm saying spendJanuary getting ready and kick
things off February 1st.
(09:59):
If you jump too quickly tothese are my New Year's
resolutions with how goingthrough the steps might not be
ideal, all right.
So what are the seven areas ofbaseline?
First, your pillars.
How are you doing on the sixpillars to live long and well?
Where are you with yourexercise program, your aerobic,
(10:20):
your anaerobic, your strength,your balance and such?
How is your sleep?
Is this an area that you wouldlike to work on in 2025?
How about your nutrition andyour weight?
Where is that relative to whereyou want it to be?
How about mind-body harmony?
Do you have a breath practiceor a meditation practice or yoga
(10:42):
?
How about exposure to saunasand cold plunges?
Is that part of your routine?
Is that something you want toconsider?
And lastly, socialrelationships when are you?
Where would you like to be?
Okay, where do I net out on thesix pillars?
For many of them, I'm doingokay and yes, I do have to work
on my meditation practice and myneed to make sure that I am
(11:10):
doing my sauna and cold plunge.
But for 2025, I particularlywant to focus on my strength.
As I may have mentioned oncebefore, I did a DEXA scan and
I've tested my left leg and myright leg, and my left leg is
significantly weaker than myright leg and has less muscle.
(11:31):
So this is something Idefinitely want to focus on of
my pillars 2025.
And I want to maintain myendurance ability and my ability
to work on the ranch.
So there's another Ironman inmy 2025 future.
Okay.
Risk factors, second area ofbaseline when are you with some
(11:54):
of the classic cardiovascularcognitive decline risk factors?
Where's your blood pressure?
Are you smoking?
How is your weight?
Do you have any evidence ofdiabetes or metabolic syndrome?
Alcohol intake Now for me, I'mon medication for my blood
pressure.
I'm on medication for mycholesterol.
Both of those are under control.
(12:16):
There's some question about myeye pressure, my intraocular
pressure, which is borderline,getting high.
So, as a risk factor,definitely something I'm going
to focus on in 2025.
And I think I have a planalready for that.
And alcohol I am under my sortof six or seven glasses a week,
(12:37):
so I'm good there.
No new effort needed, okay.
Third area of your baseline whatabout your preventive care
activities?
Are you getting screeningcolonoscopy, pap smears,
mammograms, the like?
How about your vaccines?
A lot of talk about fluvaccines and the like, but what
about your tetanus?
Vaccination needs to be doneevery 10 years, so take stock of
(13:02):
that and that might need to bepart of your New Year's
resolutions.
Are there any illnesses thatyou have that you want to get
under control a little bitfurther?
And finally, any other healthissues or health-related issues
that add into the mix.
My dear wife, gail, pointed outto me the other day that I was
(13:24):
acting a little bit peevish orirritable, and that happens for
me when I'm very focusedinternally my stuff, what's
going on inside of me and I'mnot as outwardly focused on
others and thinking about andhelping others as I would like
(13:44):
to be Now.
That happens when I don't feellike I have enough energy.
Now it's not physical energy,it's emotional energy and my
reservoir of emotional kind ofability falls, and so that's
something I want to add to my2025.
Okay, next aspect of ourbaseline as I said, there's a
(14:06):
lot of things to consider yourhealth type your health type
sets the stage for the types ofresolutions that might be
effective.
Okay, so I'm a holistic healthhacker.
I'm dialing in all sorts ofthings related to my health.
As I think about 2025, Ialready got a lot of things.
I'm focuseding in all sorts ofthings related to my health.
As I think about 2025, Ialready got a lot of things I'm
focused on as a holistic healthhacker.
(14:29):
It gets overwhelming, getstiring, especially as we get
older, when things don'tcontinue to improve.
So for me, if I'm going to addnew things, I might need to
think about dropping some.
Okay.
Next, single-minded achieverWell, you're really good at one
area of your life, but are youopen to broadening it?
(14:50):
Maybe you need a breathpractice or consider sauna for
the year.
Purposeful path planners youknow they are good at planning
stuff, but sometimes get stuckand can't decide what to do.
I'm hoping that these six stepswill ultimately help you and
for my contentment creators.
I love my contentment creators.
(15:12):
You know health has to fit intoyour life and it may be.
You're happy with your life andmaybe you're not going to add
much to it from a New Year'sresolution standpoint and you
have to decide for yourself.
The last of the baselineelements is to take stock of
what has worked and hasn'tworked in the past for you.
(15:34):
As I've said before, I havestruggled with doing a strength
training programming and doingthat routinely.
Well, a year or so ago I got atrainer she arrives every week
and it's sort of out of mycontrol and I am happy to say I
at least do once a week ofstrength training because I
(15:55):
found that worked for me.
For my alcohol intake I havereduced that, but I didn't do it
in a way of saying, nope, youcan't have any more alcohol or
you can't have more than Xnumber of drinks a week.
I gave myself permission toenjoy a whiskey, a wine, a beer,
(16:15):
but I put guardrails around it.
I drink once or twice a weekand I drink one or two drinks at
a time, so that totals maybefour or five drinks a week at
most.
That worked for me, rather thansaying I can't do this and I
have to limit the whole week tosomething I gave myself
permission.
That seems to work for me.
(16:37):
My high intensity exercisetraining is I have shared.
I hate it, I hate it, I hate itand I haven't succeeded there
up until now.
So whatever I've been doingprobably is not something I
should continue.
I should come up with a newapproach to this and I do really
well when I set a date on acalendar.
So I'm going to do an Ironmantriathlon in 2025.
(17:00):
I do well when I set a date onthe calendar and I can work
towards it.
Okay, so that's the baseline.
That's the hardest, longeststep to do, but so important,
and I suspect folks haven'ttended to focus on this in the
past.
Okay, number two afterreflecting on your baseline,
(17:20):
develop a list of possible areasto focus on Now.
This may be quite long.
You may have five or 10 or 15or more areas that you'd like to
focus on.
Great, get a nice long list and, as we'll talk about later, you
want to narrow that list.
Prioritize that list to maybeone, two or three, but start
with a long list.
So for me, my list, as Imentioned, one of which is going
(17:44):
to be work on my leg asymmetrystrengthen my left leg a lot
more.
I need to, secondly, build anenergy reservoir, that's the
emotional energy, so I can focusmore on others, and that's
going to relate, as we'll talkabout my meditation practice, my
sauna practice and, lastly, Iwant to maintain my endurance,
(18:09):
and so there's going to beelements related to that in my
resolutions.
Okay, set resolutions, your newyear's resolutions or, in this
case, maybe your February 1stresolutions, and again, you can
start any time of year.
If you've just listened to thispodcast in May, then get
(18:32):
started in June.
All good, no-transcript, oneresolution, maybe two, maybe
three, but not a lot more thanthat.
You really want to have a smallnumber, and the scientific
studies that have been done showthat to be effective, more
effective.
Secondly, when you're puttingtogether your New Year's
(18:55):
resolutions, frame them inpositive ways, not negative ways
.
It means things you're going todo not focus on things you're
going to stop.
So if your New Year'sresolutions in years past that
didn't succeed were things likeI'm going to eat fewer sweets,
(19:17):
turn that around this year toI'm going to eat more fruits and
vegetables.
If you eat more fruits andvegetables, you may well reduce
the amount of sweets.
Positive ones have more impactthan negative ones.
You might have said in the pastdon't be a couch potato in 2025
.
Phrase it in a more positiveway.
(19:40):
I'm going to do a daily walkaround the block for 15 minutes.
So again, you're framing it ina positive way.
Now, this isn't just Bobby'sbelief, or Bobby's belief
talking to some people.
There was a randomized controltrial on this issue of positive
resolutions versus negative ones, and there were a thousand
people.
(20:00):
If it was a negatively phrasedone, only 47% of people were
able to do it at the end of ayear, but that jumped up to 59%
of people succeeded if it wasframed in a more positive way.
So do keep that in mind, okay.
(20:24):
Next element in developing yourresolutions be specific.
Resolutions like exercise more,lose weight, get more sleep
don't do nearly as well as onesthat are more precise.
So, if you want more sleep,frame it specifically as I'm
going to go to bed between 9.30and 10 at night.
(20:47):
I'm going to take a morningwalk five days a week, not seven
days a week If you do it, great, but make it precise.
And as we'll talk aboutsomething that's succeedable,
something specific like I'mgoing to do a 5k walk or run, or
I'm going to track my calorieintake not reduce it, but track
(21:10):
my calorie intake for a month.
So for me, 2025, I'm going toincrease my strength training
from once a week to twice a week, and that second one is going
to emphasize single leg worklike squats and other kinds of
things.
So very specific, something I'mgoing to do for my energy
(21:32):
reservoir, not feeling peevish,feeling more outwardly focused
on others.
I'm going to do a meditationpractice four times a week and
my sauna or steam or cold plungeI'm going to do that three
times a week.
So very precise things that aremore likely to succeed for me
(21:53):
and I hope if you take thatapproach for you.
Okay, the last one in definingthem, make them incremental, not
lofty resolutions, and alsomaybe make them near term, or at
least the first set near term,maybe a month.
Give yourself some early wins,chances to succeed, because that
(22:16):
will keep you going.
And, as I said for me in thefirst month, I'll know whether
I'm on the right track by seeingwhether I'm doing another
strength session focused on asingle leg each week.
Okay, number four of our sixsteps to develop New Year's
(22:37):
resolutions, this one won't comeas a surprise.
I'm a data person.
I love the N of one monitoringapproach.
What does that mean it's a wayfor you to keep track of your
resolutions and seeing if you'removing in the right direction.
So we're going to choose a wayto measure where you are at the
(22:58):
beginning.
You're going to start thatintervention and you're going to
measure progress, all right.
So what am I going to do?
So sleep is one of my proxiesfor energy.
So I'm going to use my auraring and I'm going to monitor my
sleep, sleep efficiency,various numbers that come out,
(23:20):
and I'll use that as a proxy.
If I get good sleep, highernumbers likely my energy level
will be commensurate and I'll befeeling better and able to
think outwardly about others.
Okay, what about my left legweakness or the strength I want
to improve?
Well, subjectively, I'll know.
(23:40):
Am I increasing weight on that?
Is that something I'm able todo?
But also, in three to fourmonths, I'll do another DEXA
scan which will objectively showwhere was I at the baseline and
how has that interventionworked.
So for you, you can do that.
Am I hourly focused?
(24:01):
I'm going to do a weeklyassessment.
Now, I didn't know how am Igoing to assess whether I'm
thinking and caring about othersmore than I was in the past?
Well, I went on the web, lookedaround and there's actually a
questionnaire just for this.
It's called the Concern.
For Others it's a simple10-question questionnaire.
(24:23):
Take me about two minutes andfor you, I don't know what your
area of focus, but do find a wayto monitor it in an objective
way that will keep you on track.
Okay, the number five step inour resolutions build
infrastructure of support, bothinternal to yourself and that
(24:45):
motivation may come throughthings like questionnaires or
doing certain tests that canassess where you are and
external, now, support systems.
The evidence here is a bit moremixed.
I would have thought thathaving others help you in this
regard would clearly be positive.
(25:06):
Well, some studies they are,but in other studies they're not
.
But here's some thoughts toconsider.
If getting to the gym or doingyour daily walk is challenging
and it's hard to keep doing it,maybe have a friend join you at
the gym, or your partner for awalk, or somebody down the block
, or maybe your dog.
(25:26):
Your dog will keep you company.
How about an accountabilitybuddy, somebody that you share
your resolutions with?
They share with you and youmight find that's a helpful way.
Maybe it's a journal you keeptrack of, a calendar, a log, a
spreadsheet.
Depending upon your health type,different things might work for
(25:46):
you.
Well, what about for me?
My infrastructure of support ismy trainer is going to continue
to come once a week and I willget that once a week session.
As a holistic health hackertrying to dial in everything.
If I'm going to add more thingsto my plate, I'm going to
(26:06):
probably take some off and I'mgoing to give myself grace
because I do push myself quitehard, and so what I need, as a
holistic health hacker, for mysupport is to give myself grace,
and I'm also involved in amen's team which gives me
accountability and support,because I will share these with
my team.
They'll ask and I will sharehow I'm doing moving forward.
(26:30):
Okay, the all-important finalstep six refine your resolutions
as needed.
Slips happen.
Slips are going to happen.
In a study that looked at howoften people kind of slipped up
on doing their resolutions, 53%of them had at least one slip in
(26:54):
the observation period of ayear or two.
The average number of slips is14.
You've got to restart.
Don't give up.
Keep at it.
If you need to take a break fora couple weeks, fine, choose
the first of the next month toget started again, as I've said
to you, I stopped my meditation,I stopped my sauna.
(27:17):
I needed to restart.
I've already had to do that forThanksgiving and I'm going to
recharge myself to do it duringthe early parts of 2025.
Okay, time to wrap up.
Resolutions often fail, but theydon't need to fail.
There are some people who areable to keep them and I hope the
(27:39):
six steps may be moresuccessful for you.
Again, those six steps areassess your baseline.
Many different ways you need todo that.
Develop a long list ofpossibilities that you might
focus on, but then narrow it toa small number.
Set your goals a small number,very specific, in positive words
(28:01):
.
Define your monitoring plan oryour end of one plan.
Build your infrastructure andfinally refine as needed.
Give yourself time to do thisright.
Work on this in January andthen kick things off perhaps
February 1st.
Well, I don't have a healthcoach, but in some ways, you my
(28:23):
audience are my health coach.
You are going to be my realitycheck and my motivation, and
I'll share how I'm doing withyou.
If you need a health coach oryou need some help, by all means
, if you're interested inworking with me, I have several
programs.
Just check out the website.
And that'sdrbobbylivelongandwellcom.
The website.
(28:48):
And that'sdrbobbylivelongandwellcom.
Well, 2025 is upon us and Ihope your New Year's resolutions
set you on a great path to livelong and well.
Thanks so much for listening toLive Long and Well with Dr
Bobby.
If you liked this episode,please provide a review on Apple
or Spotify or wherever youlisten.
(29:09):
If you want to continue thisjourney or want to receive my
newsletter on practical andscientific ways to improve your
health and longevity, pleasevisit me at
drbobblivelongandwellcom.
That's doctor, as in D-R Bobby,live long and wellcom.
Most resolutions fail and that's why I put together
this episode, so hopefully wecan all do better.
Many people say I'm going tojoin the gym.
Well, 80% of gym membershipslapse within the first five
months.
Even though it's six months,46% of people are still at it,
(00:21):
or only 46% are still at it.
People are still at it or only46% are still at it, compared to
people who don't haveresolutions but are also
interested in similar goals.
Only 8% of them are followingthose goals.
(00:48):
Hi, I'm Dr Bobby Du Bois andwelcome to Live Long and Well, a
podcast where we will talkabout what you can do to live as
long as possible and with asmuch energy and vigor that you
wish.
Together, we will explore whatpractical and evidence-supported
steps you can take.
Come join me on this veryimportant journey and I hope
that you feel empowered alongthe way.
(01:10):
I'm a physician, ironmantriathlete and have published
several hundred scientificstudies.
I'm honored to be your guide,to be your guide.
(01:32):
Welcome to episode 26, newYear's resolutions that work,
with personalization andevidence-based strategies.
Well, it's that time of yearwhere New Year's resolutions are
in the air.
Sadly, most of them fail.
Now I've been reflecting whichoften happens this time of year
and wondered is there a moresuccessful approach, more
(01:55):
evidence-based?
After looking at the evidenceand thinking about this really
complex problem, I'd like toshare with you an approach to
New Year's resolutions basedupon six steps.
One assess your baseline.
Two, develop possible areas topursue and then prioritize them.
(02:20):
Three set the actual goals andwe'll talk specifically how
those goals might look.
Four, define your monitoring oryour end-of-one approach.
Five, build an infrastructureto support you.
And six refine as needed.
(02:40):
Now I put this together as away that would be more likely
that I might succeed with my2025 resolutions, but I'm hoping
this might also be useful foryou.
Now, this is the beginning ofJanuary.
You might think, oh no, I'vemissed my window of opportunity.
(03:01):
No, you're perfect.
Window of opportunity.
No, you're perfect.
Perhaps spend January gettingready, going through these six
steps and then kicking it offformally February 1st.
No need to start January 1st,but having a date on the
calendar when you begin isactually, from a scientific
standpoint, very helpful.
(03:22):
If you need help, a couple ofoptions here for you.
The show notes will have thesesix steps in it and some detail.
If you want more detail, I willbe writing a blog.
It'll be on my website shouldbe available when this goes live
and it will have the six stepsand the sub steps and that might
(03:45):
give you some more detail, andmy website is
drbobblivelongandwellcom.
Or, if you need more directhelp, want to work with me again
on my website, there's someoptions for how you might do
that.
Well, let's begin, as I alwaysdo, with my story Now.
I shared some of my story acouple of episodes ago, and that
(04:09):
was my Thanksgiving experience,where I drank more than I
expected alcohol that is thatled to eating more than I had
hoped, getting poor sleep,waking up the next morning,
getting poor sleep, waking upthe next morning having coffee,
(04:29):
and, because I had 25 familymembers in and lots of social
situations, started that wholecycle again the next day and had
four days that were not idealfor my health, and I learned
what my trigger was, which issocial situations, and so, as
I've talked about before, thatwas a kind of a reflective
moment and I realized that I hadstopped doing some of my saunas
and my regular meditation, andso I needed to restart them and
(04:54):
I started to feel better soonafter that.
So, in getting ready for 2025,I thought, well, I need to focus
on those, but there may beother things that I need to work
on as well, and upon reflection, I thought well, I need to
focus on those, but there may beother things that I need to
work on as well, and uponreflection, of course there were
.
Now, although a huge number ofpeople do New Year's resolutions
(05:17):
, there's very little scientificliterature, and I scoured the
literature to see what do weknow.
Now there's a much broaderliterature on how do you change
behavior and personal behavior,and so I'm drawing upon that as
well.
Well, not surprisingly, newYear's resolutions are really
common.
So, in the United States, about44% of us do a New Year's
(05:43):
resolution.
74% of us do a New Year'sresolution.
Now, what's fascinating is, ifyou look at other countries, 74%
50% more than us of folks inthe UK are envisioned doing New
Year's resolutions in 2025.
Why are there more in the UKthan the US?
I don't know.
Well, in the other direction,sweden, only 12 to 18% do New
(06:09):
Year's resolutions.
Again, are they so happy withtheir life that they don't need
to do them?
I don't know.
There's also an age differencein New Year's resolutions.
People who are in their 20s are49% likely to develop or do New
Year's resolutions, but peopleabove age 50, only 21%.
(06:32):
Twice as likely if you're inthat young age group.
Now, if you look at the surveysthat have been done on New
Year's resolutions, done on NewYear's resolutions, health is by
far and away the number onearea in New Year's resolutions.
It could be losing weight, itcould be exercising more, stop
smoking, improving one's healthmore generally.
(06:55):
If you add those all up, youget 60 to 80% of all New Year's
resolutions are health related.
Now, as I said at the outset,most resolutions fail and that's
why I put together this episode, so hopefully we can all do
better.
Now, what are some examples,some data that most fail?
(07:18):
As I said, number one is health.
Many people say I'm going tojoin the gym.
Number one is health.
Many people say I'm going tojoin the gym.
Well, 80% of gym membershipslapse within the first five
months.
So that's a kind of evidencethat most New Year's resolutions
don't continue.
Really interesting study.
Again, there weren't a lot ofstudies of New Year's
(07:40):
resolutions, but this one lookedat 200 people and followed them
for two years to see whathappened.
Well, at week one, 77% ofpeople were working on their New
Year's resolution.
Of course, that means over 20%had already given up in the
first week, but 77% were addedat week one.
By the time they followed themout two years only 19% were
(08:06):
still focused on that issue, andI doubt that's because they
solved the problem.
I'm guessing that they sort ofran out of gas in the process,
as most of us tend to do.
Now I want to leave you with amore positive statistic than
just that one.
Even though it's six months,46% of people are still at it,
(08:29):
or only 46% are still at it.
Compared to people who don'thave resolutions but are also
interested in similar goals,only 8% of them are following
those goals.
Although resolutions often fail, they're much better than not
having anything at all.
All right, enough of background.
(08:49):
Let's get into the six stepsNow.
Let me point out that I'mtalking about I'm focusing upon
New Year's resolutions thatrelate to health, and again,
those are the most common.
But you may have non-healthones as well.
You may have ones that relateto your career, that might
(09:13):
relate to relationships in yourlife.
I'm not focused on those rightnow, but for all the reasons I'm
about to walk through, the samesix steps might be useful for
these other ones as well.
So keep that in mind andultimately you'll need to bring
them all together.
Okay, step number one assessyour baseline.
I suspect most of us don'tspend enough time taking stock
(09:38):
of where are we at the beginningof 2025.
I know I've spent a lot of timethinking about this.
There are seven aspects of ourlives that I think are worth
reflecting upon.
That's why I'm saying spendJanuary getting ready and kick
things off February 1st.
(09:59):
If you jump too quickly tothese are my New Year's
resolutions with how goingthrough the steps might not be
ideal, all right.
So what are the seven areas ofbaseline?
First, your pillars.
How are you doing on the sixpillars to live long and well?
Where are you with yourexercise program, your aerobic,
(10:20):
your anaerobic, your strength,your balance and such?
How is your sleep?
Is this an area that you wouldlike to work on in 2025?
How about your nutrition andyour weight?
Where is that relative to whereyou want it to be?
How about mind-body harmony?
Do you have a breath practiceor a meditation practice or yoga
(10:42):
?
How about exposure to saunasand cold plunges?
Is that part of your routine?
Is that something you want toconsider?
And lastly, socialrelationships when are you?
Where would you like to be?
Okay, where do I net out on thesix pillars?
For many of them, I'm doingokay and yes, I do have to work
on my meditation practice and myneed to make sure that I am
(11:10):
doing my sauna and cold plunge.
But for 2025, I particularlywant to focus on my strength.
As I may have mentioned oncebefore, I did a DEXA scan and
I've tested my left leg and myright leg, and my left leg is
significantly weaker than myright leg and has less muscle.
(11:31):
So this is something Idefinitely want to focus on of
my pillars 2025.
And I want to maintain myendurance ability and my ability
to work on the ranch.
So there's another Ironman inmy 2025 future.
Okay.
Risk factors, second area ofbaseline when are you with some
(11:54):
of the classic cardiovascularcognitive decline risk factors?
Where's your blood pressure?
Are you smoking?
How is your weight?
Do you have any evidence ofdiabetes or metabolic syndrome?
Alcohol intake Now for me, I'mon medication for my blood
pressure.
I'm on medication for mycholesterol.
Both of those are under control.
(12:16):
There's some question about myeye pressure, my intraocular
pressure, which is borderline,getting high.
So, as a risk factor,definitely something I'm going
to focus on in 2025.
And I think I have a planalready for that.
And alcohol I am under my sortof six or seven glasses a week,
(12:37):
so I'm good there.
No new effort needed, okay.
Third area of your baseline whatabout your preventive care
activities?
Are you getting screeningcolonoscopy, pap smears,
mammograms, the like?
How about your vaccines?
A lot of talk about fluvaccines and the like, but what
about your tetanus?
Vaccination needs to be doneevery 10 years, so take stock of
(13:02):
that and that might need to bepart of your New Year's
resolutions.
Are there any illnesses thatyou have that you want to get
under control a little bitfurther?
And finally, any other healthissues or health-related issues
that add into the mix.
My dear wife, gail, pointed outto me the other day that I was
(13:24):
acting a little bit peevish orirritable, and that happens for
me when I'm very focusedinternally my stuff, what's
going on inside of me and I'mnot as outwardly focused on
others and thinking about andhelping others as I would like
(13:44):
to be Now.
That happens when I don't feellike I have enough energy.
Now it's not physical energy,it's emotional energy and my
reservoir of emotional kind ofability falls, and so that's
something I want to add to my2025.
Okay, next aspect of ourbaseline as I said, there's a
(14:06):
lot of things to consider yourhealth type your health type
sets the stage for the types ofresolutions that might be
effective.
Okay, so I'm a holistic healthhacker.
I'm dialing in all sorts ofthings related to my health.
As I think about 2025, Ialready got a lot of things.
I'm focuseding in all sorts ofthings related to my health.
As I think about 2025, Ialready got a lot of things I'm
focused on as a holistic healthhacker.
(14:29):
It gets overwhelming, getstiring, especially as we get
older, when things don'tcontinue to improve.
So for me, if I'm going to addnew things, I might need to
think about dropping some.
Okay.
Next, single-minded achieverWell, you're really good at one
area of your life, but are youopen to broadening it?
(14:50):
Maybe you need a breathpractice or consider sauna for
the year.
Purposeful path planners youknow they are good at planning
stuff, but sometimes get stuckand can't decide what to do.
I'm hoping that these six stepswill ultimately help you and
for my contentment creators.
I love my contentment creators.
(15:12):
You know health has to fit intoyour life and it may be.
You're happy with your life andmaybe you're not going to add
much to it from a New Year'sresolution standpoint and you
have to decide for yourself.
The last of the baselineelements is to take stock of
what has worked and hasn'tworked in the past for you.
(15:34):
As I've said before, I havestruggled with doing a strength
training programming and doingthat routinely.
Well, a year or so ago I got atrainer she arrives every week
and it's sort of out of mycontrol and I am happy to say I
at least do once a week ofstrength training because I
(15:55):
found that worked for me.
For my alcohol intake I havereduced that, but I didn't do it
in a way of saying, nope, youcan't have any more alcohol or
you can't have more than Xnumber of drinks a week.
I gave myself permission toenjoy a whiskey, a wine, a beer,
(16:15):
but I put guardrails around it.
I drink once or twice a weekand I drink one or two drinks at
a time, so that totals maybefour or five drinks a week at
most.
That worked for me, rather thansaying I can't do this and I
have to limit the whole week tosomething I gave myself
permission.
That seems to work for me.
(16:37):
My high intensity exercisetraining is I have shared.
I hate it, I hate it, I hate itand I haven't succeeded there
up until now.
So whatever I've been doingprobably is not something I
should continue.
I should come up with a newapproach to this and I do really
well when I set a date on acalendar.
So I'm going to do an Ironmantriathlon in 2025.
(17:00):
I do well when I set a date onthe calendar and I can work
towards it.
Okay, so that's the baseline.
That's the hardest, longeststep to do, but so important,
and I suspect folks haven'ttended to focus on this in the
past.
Okay, number two afterreflecting on your baseline,
(17:20):
develop a list of possible areasto focus on Now.
This may be quite long.
You may have five or 10 or 15or more areas that you'd like to
focus on.
Great, get a nice long list and, as we'll talk about later, you
want to narrow that list.
Prioritize that list to maybeone, two or three, but start
with a long list.
So for me, my list, as Imentioned, one of which is going
(17:44):
to be work on my leg asymmetrystrengthen my left leg a lot
more.
I need to, secondly, build anenergy reservoir, that's the
emotional energy, so I can focusmore on others, and that's
going to relate, as we'll talkabout my meditation practice, my
sauna practice and, lastly, Iwant to maintain my endurance,
(18:09):
and so there's going to beelements related to that in my
resolutions.
Okay, set resolutions, your newyear's resolutions or, in this
case, maybe your February 1stresolutions, and again, you can
start any time of year.
If you've just listened to thispodcast in May, then get
(18:32):
started in June.
All good, no-transcript, oneresolution, maybe two, maybe
three, but not a lot more thanthat.
You really want to have a smallnumber, and the scientific
studies that have been done showthat to be effective, more
effective.
Secondly, when you're puttingtogether your New Year's
(18:55):
resolutions, frame them inpositive ways, not negative ways
.
It means things you're going todo not focus on things you're
going to stop.
So if your New Year'sresolutions in years past that
didn't succeed were things likeI'm going to eat fewer sweets,
(19:17):
turn that around this year toI'm going to eat more fruits and
vegetables.
If you eat more fruits andvegetables, you may well reduce
the amount of sweets.
Positive ones have more impactthan negative ones.
You might have said in the pastdon't be a couch potato in 2025
.
Phrase it in a more positiveway.
(19:40):
I'm going to do a daily walkaround the block for 15 minutes.
So again, you're framing it ina positive way.
Now, this isn't just Bobby'sbelief, or Bobby's belief
talking to some people.
There was a randomized controltrial on this issue of positive
resolutions versus negative ones, and there were a thousand
people.
(20:00):
If it was a negatively phrasedone, only 47% of people were
able to do it at the end of ayear, but that jumped up to 59%
of people succeeded if it wasframed in a more positive way.
So do keep that in mind, okay.
(20:24):
Next element in developing yourresolutions be specific.
Resolutions like exercise more,lose weight, get more sleep
don't do nearly as well as onesthat are more precise.
So, if you want more sleep,frame it specifically as I'm
going to go to bed between 9.30and 10 at night.
(20:47):
I'm going to take a morningwalk five days a week, not seven
days a week If you do it, great, but make it precise.
And as we'll talk aboutsomething that's succeedable,
something specific like I'mgoing to do a 5k walk or run, or
I'm going to track my calorieintake not reduce it, but track
(21:10):
my calorie intake for a month.
So for me, 2025, I'm going toincrease my strength training
from once a week to twice a week, and that second one is going
to emphasize single leg worklike squats and other kinds of
things.
So very specific, something I'mgoing to do for my energy
(21:32):
reservoir, not feeling peevish,feeling more outwardly focused
on others.
I'm going to do a meditationpractice four times a week and
my sauna or steam or cold plungeI'm going to do that three
times a week.
So very precise things that aremore likely to succeed for me
(21:53):
and I hope if you take thatapproach for you.
Okay, the last one in definingthem, make them incremental, not
lofty resolutions, and alsomaybe make them near term, or at
least the first set near term,maybe a month.
Give yourself some early wins,chances to succeed, because that
(22:16):
will keep you going.
And, as I said for me in thefirst month, I'll know whether
I'm on the right track by seeingwhether I'm doing another
strength session focused on asingle leg each week.
Okay, number four of our sixsteps to develop New Year's
(22:37):
resolutions, this one won't comeas a surprise.
I'm a data person.
I love the N of one monitoringapproach.
What does that mean it's a wayfor you to keep track of your
resolutions and seeing if you'removing in the right direction.
So we're going to choose a wayto measure where you are at the
(22:58):
beginning.
You're going to start thatintervention and you're going to
measure progress, all right.
So what am I going to do?
So sleep is one of my proxiesfor energy.
So I'm going to use my auraring and I'm going to monitor my
sleep, sleep efficiency,various numbers that come out,
(23:20):
and I'll use that as a proxy.
If I get good sleep, highernumbers likely my energy level
will be commensurate and I'll befeeling better and able to
think outwardly about others.
Okay, what about my left legweakness or the strength I want
to improve?
Well, subjectively, I'll know.
(23:40):
Am I increasing weight on that?
Is that something I'm able todo?
But also, in three to fourmonths, I'll do another DEXA
scan which will objectively showwhere was I at the baseline and
how has that interventionworked.
So for you, you can do that.
Am I hourly focused?
(24:01):
I'm going to do a weeklyassessment.
Now, I didn't know how am Igoing to assess whether I'm
thinking and caring about othersmore than I was in the past?
Well, I went on the web, lookedaround and there's actually a
questionnaire just for this.
It's called the Concern.
For Others it's a simple10-question questionnaire.
(24:23):
Take me about two minutes andfor you, I don't know what your
area of focus, but do find a wayto monitor it in an objective
way that will keep you on track.
Okay, the number five step inour resolutions build
infrastructure of support, bothinternal to yourself and that
(24:45):
motivation may come throughthings like questionnaires or
doing certain tests that canassess where you are and
external, now, support systems.
The evidence here is a bit moremixed.
I would have thought thathaving others help you in this
regard would clearly be positive.
(25:06):
Well, some studies they are,but in other studies they're not
.
But here's some thoughts toconsider.
If getting to the gym or doingyour daily walk is challenging
and it's hard to keep doing it,maybe have a friend join you at
the gym, or your partner for awalk, or somebody down the block
, or maybe your dog.
(25:26):
Your dog will keep you company.
How about an accountabilitybuddy, somebody that you share
your resolutions with?
They share with you and youmight find that's a helpful way.
Maybe it's a journal you keeptrack of, a calendar, a log, a
spreadsheet.
Depending upon your health type,different things might work for
(25:46):
you.
Well, what about for me?
My infrastructure of support ismy trainer is going to continue
to come once a week and I willget that once a week session.
As a holistic health hackertrying to dial in everything.
If I'm going to add more thingsto my plate, I'm going to
(26:06):
probably take some off and I'mgoing to give myself grace
because I do push myself quitehard, and so what I need, as a
holistic health hacker, for mysupport is to give myself grace,
and I'm also involved in amen's team which gives me
accountability and support,because I will share these with
my team.
They'll ask and I will sharehow I'm doing moving forward.
(26:30):
Okay, the all-important finalstep six refine your resolutions
as needed.
Slips happen.
Slips are going to happen.
In a study that looked at howoften people kind of slipped up
on doing their resolutions, 53%of them had at least one slip in
(26:54):
the observation period of ayear or two.
The average number of slips is14.
You've got to restart.
Don't give up.
Keep at it.
If you need to take a break fora couple weeks, fine, choose
the first of the next month toget started again, as I've said
to you, I stopped my meditation,I stopped my sauna.
(27:17):
I needed to restart.
I've already had to do that forThanksgiving and I'm going to
recharge myself to do it duringthe early parts of 2025.
Okay, time to wrap up.
Resolutions often fail, but theydon't need to fail.
There are some people who areable to keep them and I hope the
(27:39):
six steps may be moresuccessful for you.
Again, those six steps areassess your baseline.
Many different ways you need todo that.
Develop a long list ofpossibilities that you might
focus on, but then narrow it toa small number.
Set your goals a small number,very specific, in positive words
(28:01):
.
Define your monitoring plan oryour end of one plan.
Build your infrastructure andfinally refine as needed.
Give yourself time to do thisright.
Work on this in January andthen kick things off perhaps
February 1st.
Well, I don't have a healthcoach, but in some ways, you my
(28:23):
audience are my health coach.
You are going to be my realitycheck and my motivation, and
I'll share how I'm doing withyou.
If you need a health coach oryou need some help, by all means
, if you're interested inworking with me, I have several
programs.
Just check out the website.
And that'sdrbobbylivelongandwellcom.
The website.
(28:48):
And that'sdrbobbylivelongandwellcom.
Well, 2025 is upon us and Ihope your New Year's resolutions
set you on a great path to livelong and well.
Thanks so much for listening toLive Long and Well with Dr
Bobby.
If you liked this episode,please provide a review on Apple
or Spotify or wherever youlisten.
(29:09):
If you want to continue thisjourney or want to receive my
newsletter on practical andscientific ways to improve your
health and longevity, pleasevisit me at
drbobblivelongandwellcom.
That's doctor, as in D-R Bobby,live long and wellcom.
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