Don’t get BOMTICC this New Year

Ahh…New Year’s resolutions. Whether you make them, hate them or incessantly break them year after year, they are all we’ve been hearing about for the past couple weeks and difficult to ignore.

It’s only January 9, so hopefully you are still going strong with whatever you decided to do/not to do: eating that extra serving of vegetables, not smoking or eliminating one of your 14 cups of coffee per day (that one might be mine…).

I was browsing through blogs the other day and came across a post on New Year’s resolutions on the RunnerDude’s Blog. He discussed how to avoid “the BOMTICC syndrome” this New Year’s, and because I have an odd obsession with acronyms (who doesn’t these days?), I was intrigued to keep reading.

BOMTICC stands for “Bite-Off-More-Than-I-Can-Chew” and it is an all-too-common syndrome when we develop our resolutions. And why is that? Because we concoct these “unrealistic expectations” in our mind of what we can achieve.

So how do you avoid becoming stricken with this syndrome that affects millions year after year? Develop resolutions with the following tips in mind:

(Note: It is January 9, but it’s not to late to revamp or recreate your resolutions. Who says you can’t make resolutions on January 9 – it is still a resolution for the New Year, right?)

1. Set realistic goals for yourself: You know yourself better than anyone else. You know your weaknesses and your strengths. If you want to start going to the gym but haven’t been in 6 years, setting a resolution of going 2 hours every day right off the bat may not be realistic. Instead, aim for going 3 times a week or saying that you will try 2 new group exercise classes a month. Start small with your goal – you can always add to it later.
2. Write it down or share it with a friend: According to Nebraska Medical Center exercise physiologist Kris Volkmer, “studies show if you have a support system or share your goal with someone, you’re more apt to stick with your plan and be motivated.” Tell a friend or family member that you trust will help hold you accountable, but also won’t scrutinize you if you fall off the beaten path.
3. Reward yourself: Rewards along the way can be great incentive – as long as they don’t derail you from your ultimate goal. For example, if your goal is to have better overall health, don’t reward an intense cardio session at the gym with a trip for a cookie dough blizzard at Dairy Queen. Instead, treat yourself to a massage or a new pair of shoes.

It is really easy to start out strong with these resolutions and then quickly lose steam. I read a statistic that by mid-February (about 6 weeks into the New Year), 88% of us have given up all hope and sink back into our old habits. It’s statistics like this that make me

1. Want to defy the odds (anyone with a competitive personality will know what I’m talking about), and
2. Hate statistics

After I finished reading the blog post on BOMTICC, I became glad that I don’t really make resolutions (Note: the drinking-less-coffee resolution mentioned above would be an “unrealistic expectation” for me, hence why I didn’t even bother making it a resolution). But then I realized that I suffer from BOMTICC 365 days a year. Hmm. Maybe I will make a resolution: find a cure for BOMTICC.