New year, new you. With the turn of another calendar year, this phrase often echoes throughout January alongside feelings of hope and determination. With a fresh start on the horizon, people begin to reflect on the past year’s indulgences and commit to improving their lives through hard work and self-control.

Between proper nutrition and exercise, taking control of one’s health tends to be a reoccurring theme amongst New Year’s resolutions. Whether your goal is as broad as increasing general physical activity to specific as balancing your iron levels, it’s important to stay consistent with your efforts to see results. Even people with the best intentions can falter within a few weeks, so what can you do to actually keep your New Year’s resolutions this year?

To answer this question, we sat down with famed fitness trainer and life mentor, Eva Redpath. A bonafide commitment queen herself, Eva didn’t achieve her success without a little self-discipline. Much more than your average trainer, Eva is considered a leader in all things fitness, wellness, and lifestyle. Not only recognized as Canada’s first Nike Master Trainer, Eva has been awarded with Nike’s Global MC of the year and Equinox’s Award of Excellence. Often featured on the pages of best selling magazines and online publications, she is regularly sought-after for her dynamic and inspiring presence in the gym and beyond. Most recently, Eva has been named a founding trainer for Barry’s Bootcamp Canada. How to keep New Year’s resolutions is a question she’s regularly asked by clients this time of year, so Eva has shared with us her top tips for success so you can achieve your health goals in 2018.

Replace the word resolution.

The definition of the word resolution is “a firm decision to do or not to do something.” I’m not a fan of this word because of its inflexibility and negative connotation. Resolutions can make you feel like if you mess up, the resolution isn’t worth keeping anymore. It’s a rigid word. Instead, I like to use the word goal, which is something you can work towards. Creating goals should be inspiring, exciting and create positive change! There will be some ups and downs, but know that hiccups are part of life and you can easily get back on track.

Don’t overwhelm yourself.

The New Year is a great time to reflect and reset, but setting goals doesn’t have to mean a complete lifestyle overhaul. People often try to juggle five resolutions at the same time, and fail when it becomes too much. When you take on too many things at once, you are more likely to feel overwhelmed and quit. Every small achievement should be celebrated as a success, and by addressing one thing at a time, you are more likely to accomplish your goals.

Journey over destination.

Don’t get stuck focusing on the destination. When you commit to making positive choices on a daily basis, you’ll naturally arrive at the destination. For example, if you’re taking a roadtrip, you don’t just magically show up in another location. There’s steps you have to take in order to get there, like making sure your vehicle is running properly and choosing the right directions. All of your choices will directly influence whether or not you arrive at your destination. So in other words, if you embrace every step of the journey, you’ll eventually get to where you want to go!

Develop check-in points.

Achieving your goals can be challenging at times, and it’s common to throw in the towel too soon. If you find that you aren’t hitting your targets, it might be time to check-in with yourself to better understand why. Perhaps your goals aren’t realistic at this point in your journey - but that doesn’t mean you should quit! There is absolutely nothing wrong with altering them. For example, if your goal is to go to bed an hour earlier every night but you’ve failed three nights in a row, maybe it’s time to readjust. Try lowering your bedtime by 15 minute increments every 2 weeks until you’ve settled into a new habit. Remember there is no time limit on success!