File photo / Jim Neuger
Colleen Kavanagh is the founder and CEO of SoulBeing.
Updated: December 31, 2024
How to set and achieve health goals in 2025
By Colleen Kavanagh, SoulBeing
Ah yes, another redundant “New Year, new me” article. The genre re-emerges every year, finding us just as our pants are feeling tight and our self-esteem low.
Each January, we make new promises and plans, just to quickly abandon them due to busy schedules, work travel, or that late-January-hot-toddy-at-the-ski-lodge that proves too tempting to resist (and who’s monitoring your "dry January," anyway?).
As busy professionals in high-stress fields, it’s hard to form new habits that last. But our businesses are healthiest when we are. We need new frameworks for making sustainable change, and here’s the secret: These changes should not feel like necessary punishment in pursuit of some holy grail. They need to feel good!
Focus your strategy
There are a discrete number of lifestyle categories over which we have real control. Pick one or two (at the most) of these categories in which you feel you could improve and focus your energy on those categories to begin.
- Nutrition: What do you consume daily?
- Activity level: How much are you moving, and how often?
- Sleep: What sleep hygiene practices do you have in place? Do you know how much sleep is optimal for you?
- Stress management: What methods or practices have you adopted for managing your stress levels?
- Substance use: What is your relationship to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs? Can this be improved? What support do you need to make a change?
- Community: Where do you derive your purpose? What support systems do you have in place?
Once you’ve selected a category (or two), focus all your effort within that sphere, and don’t worry so much about the others yet. Once you’ve achieved new habits supported by lasting neurological change (you should start to experience this feeling of it becoming “automatic” around the 60- to 90-day mark) indicating that your brain is being rewired around this new habit, you can decide to tackle another category if you choose. The benefits will compound.
Convenience begets consistency
I joined a spinning studio close to my kids’ daycare center that I loved and attended for years. After my kids moved on from that center, I tried to keep up my routine but found myself cancelling more classes than I attended. Despite loving the activity and community, with no reason to be geographically close to the studio, I failed to keep my commitment.
Do not underestimate the importance of convenience in achieving sustainability. The low-cost gym in your office building may end up keeping you more engaged over time than the fanciest fitness studio, because you can go on your lunch break or right after work. Consider place, time, budget, and even ease of parking, before making a big investment.
Financial accessibility
Free doesn’t make it less effective! In fact, if it means you can keep the habit going for longer, you will achieve better health outcomes. In Portland, I have participated in drop-in fitness classes ranging from $6 to $42. I can personally attest that the burn doesn’t “burn harder” because you spent more money. Look for new member promos and New Year deals before committing to something long term.
One of my most long-lasting current health habits is a free yoga channel on YouTube that I crave and seek out several times a week from the comfort of my home, comparing notes with my mom and aunt who have also become long-time followers of this specific channel. My other favorite? Getting in the sauna as often as possible.
Metrics that matter
If you’re reading this article, you are more likely than most to care about measuring the outcomes of your efforts. But when it comes to our health, modern science is starting to prove that the metrics we have long learned to associate with being healthy, aren’t necessarily the accurate predictors of health that we’ve long thought.
Figure out what “healthy” means to you and get comfortable with some subjectivity. Are your goals primarily to have more energy or mental clarity? Are you interested in promoting longevity? There are ample resources available in any category you choose. Holistic health outcomes cannot be measured by a scale or dress size.
One important part of the process is realizing that we only have direct control over our behaviors, not the outcome. Consider swapping a weight loss goal for a consistent 5x/week exercise habit, or an earlier bedtime supported by new sleep hygiene techniques (no screens after 9 p.m., for example). It will be much easier to hold yourself accountable to metrics that you directly control.
And don’t overlook your social health! Sports and group fitness are incredibly good for us but remember that social health is its own category. Joining a local pottery class, giving circle, or cooking club could have tremendous health benefits simply through the act of connecting with others.
Most importantly, be compassionate with yourself. Any step toward an improved focus on your health is progress, and being overly self-critical is proven to negatively affect our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing, so it is literally counterproductive.
Cheers to a healthy 2025!
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