Today Is 'Quitter's Day,' but Peloton’s Robin Arzón Has Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions (Exclusive)

The second Friday in January is known as “Give Up Day”, when more than 80% of people give up on their New Year’s resolutions

As we said goodbye to 2023, many people entered the new year with a fresh list of resolutions for 2024, hoping to improve their lives in some way. But whether it’s losing weight, quitting drinking, getting out of debt, or exercising, sticking to those goals can be difficult.

More than 80% of people end up scrapping their New Year’s resolutions by the second Friday in January — a day known as “Give Up Day.”

PEOPLE spoke with Robin Arzon, VP/Chief Instructor at Peloton and founder of Swagger Society, about why it’s so hard to stick to your goals and what we can do to make it easier.

“We overdid it. We overestimate our ability to achieve certain solutions. We don’t plan challenges,” explains the 42-year-old athlete and fitness influencer. “We often make this New Year’s resolution when we’re feeling great or optimistic. But what happens when the alarm goes off at 6am? What happens when your child gets sick or you have a work obligation?”

She adds, “So when you notice that you’re falling—which is human, more than 80% of people will—what do you do with that information?”

“Whether it’s January 12 or June 17,” here are some tips from Arzón to stay strong and stick to your goals.

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Robin Arzon.

Brian King

Make your goals smaller

“You can have a big audacious goal, something that’s a big finish line for you. But to get there, take small, bite-sized, achievable actions — I call them ‘hurry snacks’ — every day. So if you’re trying to get into the habit of reading, it’s like one page. We’re not talking about reading chapters all night or going to the gym for 10 hours a week at once. One might think, ‘Oh, well, if I’m not completely rosy about the outcome, isn’t that negative?’ I actually think it’s realistic and prepared.”

Understand your intentions

“Anchor your goals in your why. I believe that when you make it important, you make it happen. And you can achieve this purpose even further by measuring. What is measured is managed. Whether it’s in a diary, journal, app. Watching your success along the way can be quite motivating.”

Arrange your habits

“You want to include stacking by habit as much as you can. For example, if you’re trying to drink more water, put your water bottle next to the coffee maker and fill that bottle with water and start drinking it while your coffee is brewing. So there are ways we can stack existing habits and stretch them a little to add new routines, new habits in the new year, any time of the year.”

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Robin Arzon.

James Farrell

Eliminate friction points

“Analyze roadblocks. It’s laying out your clothes the night before. It’s ordering groceries so they’re already in your cart when you know you’ll be meal planning that week. It’s washing and cutting vegetables as soon as you get home from the grocery store. It’s the little things that often take you less than 10 minutes to make a decision today to make tomorrow a little easier.”

“And the more consistently you make that choice, then you have that neural rewiring where your mind now knows that those long-term goals are achievable even though it’s enamored with the short-term rewards.”

“It’s not really about motivation. You probably are not i will feel that way most days. So plan the days when you don’t feel like it. How do you set a schedule or routine? What pieces do you need to put in place to achieve that goal? And if it seems overwhelming, you should scale it down and ask yourself, ‘What action could I take in less than two minutes?’ Make it as simple as possible and really identify where you’re falling short in some ways and make your goals realistic.”

Find a community of like-minded people

“I think the community can be a big, big motivator. We see it every day at Peloton. Surround yourself with like-minded people. If you want to move more, surround yourself with people who move. If you want to be financially literate, hang out with people who handle money well. You really want to surround yourself as much as possible—even if it’s someone you follow on social media—with people whose default behavior is your desired outcome.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education