almost 1/12 of the way into 2025. yikes.

New year, new you? Or same you?

It’s about that time when you’ve either developed new habits and are on your way to creating a better version of yourself, or you’ve forgotten about all those ambitions you talked about on January 1st.

If you are the former, keep going! You are rare! What do you think contributed to your success?

If you are latter, it’s ok. It’s not too late to turn it around (in fact, it never is, you can start today)

If you are somewhat like me, you are somewhere in between.

This rule from James Clear’s #1 New York Times Bestseller Atomic Habits has been helping me get back into my former strengthening routine:

THE TWO-MINUTE RULE

“When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”

As James Clear states in his book, “the idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start.”

Why does this work?

The success behind this rule is that once you start to do the task for two minutes, it’s so much easier to just keep going. Starting is the hardest part, but once you do there’s momentum to keep going.

For example, instead of putting on my robe first thing in the morning (which is sooo cozy), I’ve been getting into my workout clothes at least 3 weekday mornings. Putting on the workout clothes is half the battle. Once my workout clothes are on, it’s easy to walk down to my basement, and get in a workout, instead of staying cozy in my robe and scrolling X with my cup of coffee.

So far it’s working! I’ve been much more dedicated to strength training the past 3 weeks, and it feels good to get back to my old self (more on that later).

How will you implement this rule to work towards meeting your goals?

Speaking of strength training, in each weekly post, I’d like to share at least 1 mobility/exercise tip that you can implement in your life to work towards making a better you. Every day, I work with older adult patients & clients and over the years I’ve asked hundreds of them what they thought contributed to their success, and I’ll share those tips with you here.

Strength Training Tip

Find a way to purchase a few sets of heavy-for-you dumbbells. Even if you have access to a gym, there will be days where you either can’t go, or just don’t feel like it. Or if you are like me, you exercise at home.

Having a few sets of dumbbells at home is an easy way to get the workout in, no matter what. No excuses.

I purchased my set in 2020 when exercise equipment was scarce! And it was the best purchase I’ve made in years.

Recipe of the week

There’s a fancy little grocery store near me that sells this tuna salad for $14.99/lb so I made it my mission to develop a copycat recipe (lots of trial and error!) and it’s perfect. Great for a weekday lunch. I make this once a week and everybody at home loves it - even the kids.

That’s a wrap. See you here next week for more mobility, exercise tips, and recipes for real home-cooked meals!