Arnold Schwarzenegger Just Shared His Tips for Smashing Your New Year Goals
“Negativity freezes you,” he says. “It makes you depressed about where you are instead of excited about where you can go.”
By Philip Ellis Published: Dec 27, 2022
This article is a repost which originally appeared on Men’sHealth.
Edited for content. The opinions expressed in this article may not reflect the opinions of this site’s editors, staff or members.
Arnold’s Advice:
‧ Be honest but not negative
‧ Don’t set out to finish these things this year
‧ Make one of your goals about physical health
As we head out of the holiday period and look towards 2023, many of us are starting to plan our New Year’s resolutions. Some of these targets for self-improvement will be simple, like wanting to eat healthier or work on personal fitness, while others might be more ambitious, like learning a new language or progressing in your career.
Regardless of what milestones you may have set for yourself, one man has got a few words of advice: Arnold Schwarzenegger. In his most recent newsletter, the champion bodybuilder and movie star shared his own approach to smashing his goals, breaking it down into three simple roles in the hopes that it will help others to stick to their own resolutions.
His first piece of advice is to “be honest but not negative” about where you are right now, and not judge yourself too harshly. “Do you think I’m more likely to follow through with change it I start out saying ‘Arnold, you look like a pig, you look like garbage, it’s time to fix it’ or ‘Arnold, studies show that people in better shape lead longer lives with less health problems, so losing a few pounds means more time to be here hanging out with the people you love?'” He writes. “Negativity freezes you – it makes you depressed about where you are instead of excited about where you can go. Lose the negativity (unless you are one of the small percentage where negativity actually fuels you.)”
“Second, don’t set out to finish these things this year,” he continues. “These are big, big visions about changing who you are, not what you are. You’ll make insane progress this year, but you don’t need to finish.”
Thirdly, Schwarzenegger recommends making at least one of your goals about your physical health. “The Greeks always talked about a sound mind in a sound body, so I’ve always focused on both,” he says. “The others can be things you’ve wanted to do for ages but you’ve put off, or things you know you should do, or things that will improve you as a person or at work.”