How to use the "New Year New Me" mentality for your cycling goals
The same procedure as every year: We roll into the new year with a lot of ambition and a long list of resolutions that secretly scare the hell out of us. This ritual has been widely adopted by people all over the world for God knows how long but it feels like some of us are starting to realize that all it does is create unnecessary pressure. Some even go as far as to say that you set yourself up for failure by setting specific goals for the new year.
It’s no wonder that January 17th is celebrated as the “Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day” and January 19th this year (which was yesterday!) is Strava’s official “Quitter’s Day”. Yes, you heard that right. Data has us all figured out, and it seems like the third week of January is about as long as we can take our self-made prison.
You don’t have to quit on Quitter’s Day
According to Strava’s extensive data set, “Quitter’s Day” is the day you’re most likely to let go of your New Year’s fitness resolutions. If you didn’t already know: Quitter’s Day follows the release of Strava’s annual Year in Sport 2019 report, which disclosed the activity trends from athletes all over the world. Over the past year, Strava users uploaded over 822 million activities, collecting more than eight billion miles altogether. Doesn’t sound so lazy after all now, does it?
Here are some interesting facts that Strava’s global community data revealed:
Cyclist group rides cover twice the distance of solo rides
Athletes who set goals in January are more likely to stay active as the year goes on
Those aiming for three activities per week instead of two tend to work out more consistently
The conclusion you can draw from Strava’s data? If you want to stick to your New Year’s fitness resolutions and stay active beyond January, it would be a good idea to join group rides, set specific goals (e.g., attending a race in 2020) and up your weekly workouts.
There’s only one problem with that: Just like other common resolutions, those points are not that realistic for everyone. Take me as an example: I don’t have time or money to register and train for races at the moment, I prefer to just ride my bike whenever I get the chance. I’m sure this is far from Strava’s advice to “set a specific goal.”
Also, I’m not (yet) into group rides; I prefer to ride alone or with a friend. Should I be worried about not being able to keep my goals just because I’m not a definite “group ride” type? Not at all. Of course, I consider myself lucky to be able to train together with a friend, which might very well fall under Strava’s definition of a group ride. It’s definitely helpful to have a riding partner because it’s easier to hold each other responsible for sticking to goals.
The psychology behind “New Year, New Me”
Although most people understand the risk of failure, they still pledge to keep their resolutions. This might be because we genuinely hope that all the things we fell short of the year before will magically fall into place just because it’s January 1st. Also - and I’m definitely guilty of that one - we fall prey to the idea that the new year will somehow be different from the last.
Despite everything, I personally don’t reject the idea of “New Year, New Me” - and I still write some sort of goal list for each new year. It might be pointless to hope for a miracle just by writing down some resolutions or spontaneously join a fitness studio. But I think that a realistic outlook on what you want to achieve in the new year is a great idea. You might disagree, but I find it helpful to use the psychology of “New Year, New Me” in my favor. This mindset seems so deeply rooted in a lot of us, and I wonder if we should rather utilize it instead of working against it. What if we learn to create a list of goals for each year that are actually achievable?
As in many areas, it’s all about the “how.” I found that one particular approach helps me take off the pressure of suddenly becoming a “new me” and work towards a long term goal. Although you can always make small changes during the year to establish healthy habits (and I totally support that!), it’s definitely possible to set New Year’s resolutions that don’t turn into a golden cage.
My approach to New Year’s resolutions
I’ve been doing this for at least the past three years, and I’ve never felt any significant pressure or feelings of failure. I even managed to achieve quite a few bullet points. Here’s my secret to creating a smart resolution list: Instead of setting goals for each day or week, set YEARLY goals.
Let me give you an example. Instead of pledging to ride 80 miles per week or 320 miles per month, plan to ride 3.840 miles a year. The idea behind it is easy - you never know how busy you’ll be during a specific time frame. Let’s say March is the month you have to turn in your master’s thesis, and the last thing you have time for is to ride 80 miles per week. You might have twice as much time to ride in April in May, though, which will allow you to catch up with the “missed miles”. Ultimately, it’s not that important when you ride them, as long as you stay consistent in general and ride 3.840 miles until the end of the year. Of course, that differs when you have a specific training schedule that you have to keep in order to compete at races, but that’s a whole other story. The funny thing is - I noticed that this approach takes the pressure off of HAVING to reach that goal because 12 months is a long time and by the end of the year, you’re less likely to beat yourself up over only doing 2500 miles instead of the aimed amount.
I also noticed that it helps to set very specific yearly goals for some things and rather unspecific goals for others. A right mix is key to success if you ask me. To give you an idea of what I mean by that, I’ll give you some examples from my “New Year’s Goals and Resolutions” lists of 2019 and 2020:
Unspecific goals:
Become friends with people from all over the world (2019, check!)
Learn a lot about photography and online marketing (2019, check!)
Build up my blog (2019, check!)
Start a (hopefully successful) YouTube channel with Mitch (2020, in the making)
Get a cat (2020, in the making)
Define what makes me truly happy and do more of it (2020, in the making)
Specific goals:
Ride 4000 miles (2019, not achieved)
Travel to at least 2 different countries (2020, in the making)
Fill 2 journals (2020, in the making)
Read at least 12 books (2020, in the making)
Ride my first century
I’m sure you get the idea. My list for 2019 had 20 bullet points mixed with specific and unspecific goals, and I crossed off 11 at the end of the year. 2020, however, has 33 bullet points, and I’m curious to see how I’ll do. I’m realistic about how much I can achieve in only one year, and I know that the “leftover goals” will simply be transferred into 2021.
Notice how I set the specific goal of “fill 2 journals” for 2020. I found out that I put way too much pressure on myself in 2019 by pledging to journal every day - impossible! Some days, I write five pages or more, other days, nothing. That’s just how it is. But by setting myself the goal to at least fill up 2 notebooks (not the super-thin ones, though) until the end of the year, I have a realistic goal that I can work with.
How can you use these techniques for your cycling goals?
As we all know, fitness goals differ a bit from others. To go on a decent ride, you have to be healthy, own the right clothes (especially in winter - read more about that topic here), find the time and hope for the weather to be at least halfway decent. And those are just a few examples of the things that can trigger an internal battle that leads to the question: Should I go on a ride, or should I stay home?
Ultimately, it’s up to you how to decide in these situations. Personally, I can shift my mindset from “It’s raining outside and I don’t want to get wet” towards “Whatever, let’s just get it over with” rather easily. It’s not everyone’s cake, though, and suffering is, at least most of the time, a choice.
Here’s a quick summary of my techniques to make your (cycling) goals come true:
Don’t fight the “New Year, New Me” mindset too much but instead use the psychology behind it to think about you, your status quo and what you want to achieve in the coming year
Create a list of halfway realistic resolutions. In the best case, that’s a mix of specific and unspecific goals that benefit your personal life and career as well as mental and physical health
Choose yearly goals instead of daily or monthly goals
Don’t fret over goals that you weren’t able to achieve at the end of the year, and simply push them into the next year
HAVE FUN ON THE BIKE WHENEVER YOU CAN
Do you make New Year’s resolutions every year, or do you prefer to make little changes throughout the year? Let me know in the comments, on Instagram or Facebook!