Your Bridge To Wellness: Crossing Rivers Health Blog

As the new year begins, it’s a great practice to reflect on the successes and challenges you faced in 2025 and make plans for 2026. Did you accomplish your goals? Do those goals still align with your life? Are you where you’d like to be on your health journey? It’s estimated that somewhere around 96 million Americans plan to make health a priority in the new year. If you want to eat healthier, move your body more, or improve your mental health, let’s talk about what can help you be successful.

Old habits can be hard to break, but new habits don’t have to be hard to start. What if you replaced a less healthy habit with a healthier one? It is a common myth that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. In reality, it can take a few weeks to a few months to create a behavior change. Repetition and consistency are key to helping your brain learn this new task with less effort. How long it will take for the habit to become “automatic” varies for everyone. It will, however, get easier over time.

What do you want to achieve? What are you willing to do to attain that goal? It can be helpful to make short-term goals to reach long-term results.

Using the SMART acronym helps you set goals that are clear, realistic, and sustainable.

S-Specific: Your goal should be specific. Avoid general statements such as “lose weight”. Instead, your goal could be to lose a specific number of pounds, fit into a certain piece of clothing, exercise for a certain amount of time each day/steps per day/times per week, or make specific changes to your diet.

M-Measurable: Your goal needs to be able to be measured. How will you know when the goal is met?

A-Attainable: Your goal needs to be realistic for you to attain. Can you accomplish it? Do you need to make it smaller? Here is where you can break it down into short-term and long-term goals.

R-Relevant: Your goal should be something that is meaningful to you. Does it match your values and beliefs? Are you willing to put forth the effort to achieve this goal? What is your motivation?

T-Time-based: Your goal needs to have a timeline or an end. Set a date and mark it on the calendar. When you reach your goal and want to continue, you get to make a new goal!

Example Goals:

• I will increase my core strength by doing a 30-second plank every day for one month. I will record each day completed in my planner.
• I will reduce my weekly cell phone usage by 30 minutes per week over the next month. I will monitor this by recording my weekly average every Sunday as calculated by my phone. I will replace screen time with reading, journaling, or playing a game.

Make your plan

Take some time to think about what you want for the week, month, year, or more. What is important to you? It doesn’t have to just include your physical health. What about expanding your mind by reading more books, getting outdoors, learning something new, volunteering, connecting with others, or spending more time doing things that make you feel like you.

Write it down using the techniques from above. This will remind you and help you keep track of what you are doing and what’s next. You may find it helpful to break it down into smaller “chunks” which are more manageable. Plan your first step and then make a timeline including each step along the way.

Is there anything that could sidetrack your plans? Everyone has weaknesses. How can you manage to avoid these situations or deal with them when they happen? Making a plan ahead of time can help you have the tools you need to work through the situation and move past it.

Share your goals with a trusted friend or family member. They can cheer you on and hold you accountable. They may even join you! Plan regular check-ins to follow your progress. Review your goals regularly to see how you’re doing. Re-evaluate your plans, adjust as needed, and try again.

Celebrate your success! If you achieve your goal-good for you! If you didn’t quite make it, celebrate the progress you’ve made. Certainly, you are closer to your goal than you were before you started. Remember to be kind to yourself. Your desire to improve your life is commendable. Even small changes can make a big impact on your health and well-being. Wishing you success as you reach for your dreams in the New Year!

Solis-Moreira, Jocelyn (2024, January 24). How Long Does It Really Take to Form a Habit? Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-does-it-really-take-to-form-a-habit/