Dr. Michelle Cleere Talks about New Year’s Resolutions – How to Make Them, How to Keep Them, How to Be Realistic and Reach High
It’s a New Year. And not just any year; it’s the ‘Year of Perfect Vision’: 2020. Most of us take the opportunity of a new year to make resolutions about all the things we’re going to do differently to become even better versions of ourselves. And then sometime around February, everything has fallen apart… we’ve gotten a little off track somehow, we’re busy with the rest of our lives and the resolutions have gone out the window for another 11 months. If you don’t believe it, look at how many people are at the gym in early January and compare it to early February. Some dedicated athletes won’t even GO to the gym until it thins out in February.
What happens between Jan.1st and Feb. 1st? Why do the best intentions fail to become effective habits?
How to make and keep new year’s resolutions
Performance psychologist, Dr. Michelle Cleere, is here today to discuss new year’s resolutions – How to Make Them, How to Keep them, How to Be Realistic and Still Reach High
Dr. Michelle joined us on Run to the Top in 2018 to talk about motivation and staying on top of your running game. She works with high achieving athletes, musicians and other top professionals to stay on top of their game. Whether it’s running or a myriad of high performance expectations, Dr. Michelle will help us clarify our goals, consider priorities, and set up successful outcomes by striving high, but being realistic.
Clarify goals, reconsider the notion of resolutions
Dr. Michelle talks about how she helps elites establish their new year’s plans and how you can, too. Some of the same tools may be the same and others may be quite different as you balance family, work, timelines, and other priorities. As you’ll hear at the end of the Final Kick, Dr. Michelle offers our listeners a no-cost, no-obligation 30-minute phone consultation to discuss goals or other concerns.
Your first 2020 resolution could be changing how you make resolutions altogether.
Questions Dr. Michelle is asked:
2:11 What can you tell us about your professional background?
3:36 How can we be more realistic about setting goals?
4:34 First Four:
- How old are you?
- Where were you born?
- Where do you live now?
- What is your favorite race distance or type of race?
6:36 It’s the new year and we are all full of hope and high expectations. How can we break this down into more specific pieces to create realistic expectations?
8:35 What does that process look like?
12:36 How can we stay focused if we don’t accomplish a daily or weekly goal?
14:15 How do we deal with feeling like we’ve failed if we get just slightly off track?
16:31 When is it time to adjust our goals or strategy?
17:58 How do we prioritize our running goals with the rest of our life?
22:59 How different is it for regular runners vs professional or paid athletes to set goals and make them happen?
24:19 How can we better manage competing priorities of fitness, work, and family?
26:11 How does your book series, Beating the Demons, fit in with creating and fulfilling goals for non-elite runners?
28:12 What can you tell us about staying focused when we don’t see immediate results?
29:24 How can we be realistic about how long it will take to achieve a goal?
30:24 What time frame do you prefer to work on long term goals?
31:39 Would you set a series of shorter term goals to achieve an ultimate long term goal?
34:19 How much ‘negative self-talk’ is just being realistic and how much is lack of confidence or not knowing how to properly establish goals?
36:56 What’s an example of ‘neutral-positive’ self-talk?
37:33 When would we use neutral-positive self-talk?
39:10 How important is it to have more positive self-talking points prepared for when negative thoughts creep in?
41:01 What are your thoughts on “New Year’s Resolutions”?
41:57 What tools are available for goal setting and achievement?
43:39 Can you use Mind Mapping for non-running goals?
44:28 Any final thoughts?
45:23 Final Kick Round:
- What is your favorite local training run (location, starting point, parking, distance, terrain and safety issues)?
- Favorite running book(s)?
- Words of Wisdom or Humor?
- Who or what would you like to have featured on the Run To The Top podcast?
Quotes by Dr. Michelle:
“You have to realize that as a human being, there’s going to be days where even though you have something that’s realistic in your schedule, on your calendar, on your refrigerator, you may not get to it. It may not happen. But, the great thing is: most of the time, we have tomorrow.”
“At the end of the day, sit down and take 30 seconds to a minute and think about what went well today, what was challenging, and what do I need to change or work on tomorrow. We don’t often take the time to think about what IS going on, so then we don’t think about what we CAN and WANT to do differently.”
“There are also so many benefits to exercising in the mornings: you’re able to deal with stress better, you have more energy, you’re able to think more clearly.”
“Many times, I think a year is way too long for long-term goals. I think 6 months is too long for long-term goals, for most people. I try to suss out with people what’s going to work for long-term goals.”
“Negative self-talk is, because it’s just an automated part of our system, it’s basically like words on the pages of a book; you’re just reading along and that’s kind of what’s there. That narrative we have in our head is not FACT.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel
Mentioned in this podcast:
Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community
Dr. Michelle Cleere on Run To The Top 2018
Water Bottle with Time Tracker
Book Series: Beating the Demons
Book: Grit, by Angela Duckworth
Book: Mindset – The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
Follow Dr. Michelle on:
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
—
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting Run to the Top.
