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13. New Year Goals Without the Burnout
25 Plays2 months ago
This episode of The Basics of Balance is a little different. We’re talking about New Year goals—but not in the usual “do more, track everything, optimize harder” way.
I share what I’m personally doing differently this year: fewer metrics, less tracking, fewer notifications & opening up about how chasing numbers in business last year led to burnout, and why I’m choosing to step back, trust God’s plan & timing, and focus on what I’m actually good at: coaching.
We're talking through some simple goals for the year—pull-ups, daily steps, staying consistent with workouts—and how that connects to nutritional periodization with clients. Just like athletes have on-seasons and off-seasons, regular people do too. You’re not a robot. You don’t need to be “on” 24/7 to make progress & learning how to periodize your goals to fit your life can make it easier to keep going.
If you’ve felt overwhelmed by tracking, dieting, or trying to control every outcome, this episode is for you.
🎧 Listen now and start the year with a plan that’s realistic, human, and sustainable.
#NewYearGoals #FitnessWithoutBurnout #NutritionPeriodization #TheBasicsOfBalance
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Transcript
New Beginnings and Fresh Energy
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, my friends. I hope your week is going well so far. Or if you're hearing this at the end of your week, I hope your week went well. We are just wrapping up the first full week of a new year. um And it's it's so exciting this time of year because there is so much fresh energy. Like I am such a sucker for... um you know, clean slates, fresh starts. Like I say, oftentimes with my clients, Mondays are like always a clean slate because it's the first day of the the new week. And so therefore, whatever negative stuff happened in the past, whatever, we're moving on, clean slate, right?
00:00:39
Speaker
Or, hey, maybe we had an incredible week or a weekend. Awesome, it's an opportunity to build on it, right? And so all of that to say, I love fresh, clean slates. There is just something about the new year where there might be some people that are like, I hate the new year because they're just goals that most people don't stick to.
00:00:59
Speaker
Whatever, okay? You got to pick and choose your battles,
Goal Mapping and Nutritional Periodization
00:01:03
Speaker
okay? The new year is such a great time to just, whether it's slow down and kind of just like recalibrate your life and like what you want to focus on in the coming year, or maybe that's like most people where they start coming up with goals and, you know, things to to work towards, um you know, similar approaches, but different, right?
00:01:22
Speaker
I don't think there's a right or a wrong way to start a new year, but i have been really working with a lot of my individual clients over the last several years.
00:01:34
Speaker
ah Every single January, we use that as an opportunity to regroup, right? Let's talk about, you know, what we want to focus on this year. Let's make sure we're on the same page. And something that I do with them um That is something you might want to consider doing if you have not started doing this before is something that I call goal mapping. okay um And goal mapping, the way or my take on it is something that I do um that that points to the idea of nutritional periodization. meaning we are identifying times of their year where maybe it would be a great idea to push the gas a little bit. And maybe that means go into a cut, a deficit, a diet, whatever you want to call it. Because diets, they inherently require just a little bit more mental capacity,
Balancing Diet Phases with Life Events
00:02:24
Speaker
right? It requires more of in approach. We want to make sure we're meal prepping, setting ourselves up for success. We want to make sure activity is um you know, on point, um you know, things like that, right? Versus times of their year where it might not be a great idea to diet. Maybe you're like really busy um or maybe you're going on vacation. Maybe you're going through just a really stressful time in your life. Like I was talking to a client ah yesterday about
00:02:53
Speaker
not only what she had coming up throughout the year so we could identify when these pockets of, you know, push and coast are going to be, um but also like what's coming up throughout her year that might just like mess with her mental capacity, right? Her bandwidth, because again, that matters. And she identified that, well, she is going to have kind of a stressful phase of her year because she has a family member who she's going to have to make some tough decisions, and place into assisted living. um And that's, of course, going to just be pretty emotional, right? And like, we're humans, we're not robots, and our emotions affect our ability to show up for ourselves, right? Whether we want to admit it or not. So I think i think the new year is a great time to kind of just like take a step back and recalibrate. Maybe that means slow down and ease your way in. But I think that with the fresh energy, identifying times when you might be able to press the gas a little bit or coast is in your best interest. um Because I think for the majority of people who are starting a new year with any physical goals,
00:03:59
Speaker
We, we just, we have a goal of, I want to lose weight. I want to lose fat. You know, I want to get stronger. I want to build muscle. And those are all very
Creating SMART Goals in Fitness
00:04:06
Speaker
vague goals. I'm not going to talk, talk to you today about SMART goals. Um, but those are very vague and part of having a SMART goal, it's an acronym is having a specific goal. Okay. So break down that goal of, I want to lose weight, break down that goal of, I want to build muscle. Let's get specific with it, right? How much weight do you want to lose by when, how are you going to, what are you going to do to get there? Right. Um, I want to get stronger. Awesome. How are you going to measure that? What steps are you going to take, um, in order to make sure that you are
00:04:39
Speaker
reaching your goal, right? So we want to make sure that we're being specific, um but also at the same time with that in mind, with like, okay, bringing a little bit more specificity into your goal process, right? We forget that for those who might have a you know physical goal that they're working on this year, a diet is a phase of your journey, okay? It's not supposed to be the journey, all right? And there are many reasons as to why that is. Number one, um we our body was never meant to live in restriction permanently. Your body is meant to um
00:05:16
Speaker
to to maintain homeostasis. and And being in a diet inherently means that we are intentionally eating less than our body needs to maintain that homeostasis. Okay, it's intentional. It's for a period of time. It's not going to be forever. And then we go into a maintenance frame of mind to kind of allow our body to recoup some energy, to enter back into that homeostasis so that we are making sure that we are doing... um good to our body as we reach our goals because our body doesn't care about our goals. Our body's number one only job is to stay alive and maintain homeostasis. And it can only do the best um that it can with the, i will say,
00:05:57
Speaker
context that we give it, right? Or the situations that we put it in and and ask it to do its best. And so if we are in a diet for too long of a period of time, of course, context matters. Typically, that's when we start seeing systems start breaking down and not working correctly. um That's where maybe when you start seeing some like long-term digestive issues pop up um that you can't really put a finger on and it's just reducing your quality of life. Maybe that means you're getting injured a lot with your workouts because again, your body doesn't have what it needs to not only get stronger, but to recover from the workouts you're doing. um Maybe that means you depending on the severity of your restriction, you develop an autoimmune disease. um
00:06:36
Speaker
These are just you know examples of what can happen. um you know if we are in a period of restriction for too
Understanding Metabolic Adaptation
00:06:44
Speaker
long. The more realistic, ah um I will say, scenario that typically happens when we are in a period of restriction for too long is our body adapts to a lower um amount of calories that it needs, and that is called metabolic adaptation, okay? And that's not a good thing because that means that we are lowering our metabolism, and when we lower our metabolism, that is when your body has to like pick and choose what how it's going to spend that energy. And it can't spend its energy on all of your systems for optimal health So it's got to pick and choose, right? And that's not great. And so that's basically, in a nutshell, one of the biggest reasons why we can't diet it forever, okay? um If not the biggest reason why we can't diet it forever. And so with that line of logic, we we want to identify periods, periodization, of our year when we can push the gas, when we can diet, when we can be more dialed in, and when we can...
00:07:42
Speaker
pump the brakes little bit, maybe coast a little bit, maybe maintain some of the habits that we practice while we were dieting, but not as dialed in, right? I've said this before a few times where, you know, looking at your goals, such as a dial, like on an oven versus an on-off switch, right? And so turning up the the dial, turning up the heat, pressing the gas, dieting, doing more, more, more versus, okay, let's recoup some energy. Let's turn down the heat. We're still moving forward. We're just moving forward slower in an effort to make sure that our body is, you know, in agreement with what we're doing. So anyways, all that to say, um, having conversations, um,
00:08:21
Speaker
with yourself, these are conversations that I have with my clients to identify when we wanna push the gas, when we want to pump the brakes, right? In that line of logic, because when you can basically look at your entire year and say, okay, this is when I'm gonna push the the gas, this is when I'm gonna pump the brakes, you give yourself a roadmap. You give yourself ah ah a bigger picture on what you're working towards so that you know, hey, i'm I'm to the end of my cut. I know I'm going to pump the brakes. I know I'm going to recoup some energy. Just hang in there a little bit longer. It gives you a little bit more to work with when you are in that period of a period of put your head down, put your blinders on.
00:09:07
Speaker
it's time to grind, right? Get in, get to work, get out.
Benefits of Goal Mapping
00:09:10
Speaker
And in that same line of logic, when you see your whole year in a macro view, in that whole map view, you're able to see, okay, this period of a break, it's a planned break. right? I'm planning on pumping the gas a little bit. I'm not going from all or nothing. I am intentionally taking some time to recoup some energy so that I can get back to that that dial and focus, right? And so you just kind of see the different phases for the value that each phase provides. And it really just does wonders for your ability to um to keep moving forward. Yeah. to be less robotic, to be to have more of a realistic approach to your health and your fitness goals, right? And when you kind of are able to identify those pockets, you're just better able to, like I said, kind of you know show up when you need to, dial in and give yourself permission to relax a little bit. um
00:10:06
Speaker
Because again, a diet is a phase of the journey. It's not the journey. I mean, think about athletes, right? They have on seasons, they have off seasons. You can't expect them um Like an NFL player, you can't expect them to just like continuously run their body into the ground and get tackled unless you want to expect a lot of injuries. Right. um You have off seasons where you rebuild, where you are not pushing as hard and you're more focused on um you know, making sure that you are supporting your body so that you can push a little bit more on the off season. Well, you're the same thing. You're not a robot, right? And so all that to say in talking about, you know, fresh energy, clean slates, maybe you're kind of regrouping for the year. Maybe you're slowing down and having an ease into your year. Maybe that's something to consider as you're kind of ramping back up on what do I want this year to look like? um Or maybe you are have already started a diet. Maybe you have already started, you know, a physical goal or, you know, something like that.
00:11:03
Speaker
Maybe that's an ah opportunity or approach that you could take to just help you kind of like look at the big bird's eye view. um I will say, ah you know, in talking to some of my clients, some goals don't necessarily have to be specific as far as aesthetics are concerned, right? When we're talking about health and fitness goals,
00:11:24
Speaker
You sure can care about your appearance. i don't think there's anything wrong with that if we're doing it for the right intention, right? And we have the right approach to doing that, not sacrificing your health in order to reach those goals. But there are also other physical goals that you can have outside of trying to change your appearance, right?
Exploring Non-Aesthetic Physical Goals
00:11:42
Speaker
For example, last year, i think this was last year, maybe this was two years ago. Yeah, you know what? This was two years ago. Wow. um Two years ago, i had a goal of trying to get to 20 pull-ups, okay? And by trying to get to 20 pull-ups, I started the year being able to do five. So I knew that I was working towards increasing my pull-ups by 15 throughout the entire year. um And throughout the year, that basically gave me many goals to say, okay, I know I cannot get stronger unless I am eating not only enough food, enough calories, but also of that food, of those calories, I need to make sure I'm having enough protein, right? You can't get stronger if you're not giving your body the fundamental basic building blocks of what it needs to get stronger. So that gave me a mini goal. Okay, I need to make sure I'm eating enough food so that I can keep getting stronger so I can reach this goal. That also gave me another mini goal of, okay, you can't get stronger if you're not sleeping great.
00:12:43
Speaker
Period. Muscle growth, increased strength cannot happen if we are in a sleep deficit because when you're sleeping, that's where the magic happens. That's when and that's when your your cells turn over. That's when we recover. That's when we get stronger is when we're not working out. um when we have rest days and things like that, which led me to, okay, I need to make sure I am being consistent with my workouts because if my goal is to get more pull-ups, not only do I have to practice those pull-ups more frequently, right? But I also need to make sure that I'm strengthening those accessory muscle groups. I talked about that, I think, on the last episode, making sure that I'm not just focused on pull-ups, but I'm focused on the the connective tissue, the other muscle groups that are assisting that big overall movement, if you will, right? So other physical goals don't necessarily have to be purely i want to you know look a certain way, right?
00:13:35
Speaker
Now, don't get me wrong. I definitely um overshot that goal. I was very excited. Like I said, i get i am a sucker for fresh energy. So in the new year, I definitely overshot that goal. However, um man I can't believe I didn't look this up before I started recording this podcast.
00:13:53
Speaker
I think if I remember correctly, i got 14 pull-ups by the end of the year. um And by the end of the year, i had already gone through a diet phase for eight weeks, I believe. So I had gone through a period of restriction in a deficit where my body didn't have what it needs. So with that context and also... with me increasing my pull-ups by 11 for the year, i was proud of that. So sure, I didn't hit the goal and yes, okay, I had to readjust my expectations, but hey, whatever, sometimes that happens, right? The goal is is that we increase that pull-up number, I worked for that, It gave me something to work for. And I was proud of that effort at the end of the day. So that can be an example of a physical goal that may be something of your alley, right?
00:14:37
Speaker
Kind of keeps you consistent, keeps you moving forward, but just kind of shifts your your thought process away from, you know, what you look like so per se, right? Again, not that there's anything wrong with that, but also let's be honest. um Another goal that um i I had heard when I was talking to a client was they wanted to just simply get stronger. Okay. And okay, getting stronger again, kind of like what I talked about. Well, that's going to denote that you have to do certain things in order to get stronger. Right. um
00:15:08
Speaker
And, you know, another client that I talked to they said that they wanted to basically just stay consistent. They wanted to take their workouts that they did for the entire year and add one, meaning We're not trying to necessarily like go crazy and hustle and, you know, no pay, no gain. We're just trying to like,
00:15:26
Speaker
stay consistent, show up two to three times a week. We are okay with that. And they ended up you know vastly exceeding that goal. So all of that to say, those can be other physical goals um that might be something that's like up your alley, right? The more goals that we can have, the more reasons that we are giving ourselves to show up for ourselves, the more likelihood we're going to be able to show up for ourselves. Because if one of those reasons to show up is not big enough, is not deep enough,
00:15:56
Speaker
Well, then choose from the plethora of the other reasons. Choose from the plethora of the list of other goals that you want to work on that are still working towards that common goal. But again, our emotions, they they affect our ability to care about things, to show up for ourselves in different ways. so the more reasons that you can give yourself to show up, the better, the more likelihood that you're going to be able to stick with it for any of those reasons, for any of those mini goals. Um, and so i thought I would share too.
Personal Goal of Unplugging
00:16:28
Speaker
These are some of the goals that I have identified that I am working on this year. um kind of just in the line of logic, just sharing a little bit of the, of like my side of things. Number one I record all of these podcasts, by the way, in video. So if you don't see them, this might not mean anything to you, but if you do see them, um, I typically am wearing an Apple watch. I have worn an Apple watch
00:16:54
Speaker
For the last, I don't know, eight years of my life, it's a common thing, right? And I am no longer wearing an Apple Watch. I still have a tan line from years of wearing it in the summer and in Nashville. The sun is so hot and i'm I just love being in the sun. So I have a permanent tan line. So I'm excited to see if that ever goes away this year. However, one of my goals this year, and the reason I'm bringing this up, is well I want to be more unplugged and track less things, okay?
00:17:24
Speaker
Last year, I tried to unplug a little bit at the beginning of the year, and I deleted all my social media accounts from my phone, and I only was going to use my iPad for, you know, social media and things like that. Well, the apps are very different on an iPad versus a phone, so that wasn't realistic, so whatever, okay? I've tried the whole time limit thing and you know yada, yada, and it just it's never worked for me. I keep falling into bad patterns. And so something that has worked for me over the last several months is I've turned off notifications on a lot of things. um I've turned off notifications on all of my social media platforms, so I'm not necessarily just getting pinged um um more often than I need to and making me distracted. My ADD will go crazy, right? Lose my train of thought. um And so in that line of logic,
00:18:12
Speaker
I just kind of felt a pull to like, okay, let's take this one step further. um And so I stopped wearing my watch, number one, to remove even more notifications, right? To not get notified when somebody even texts me or calls me. um I even had to tell my husband, like, listen, I used to lose my phone all the time before I had my watch and arguably pinging my my phone from my watch was my favorite feature because I always knew where my phone was.
00:18:41
Speaker
And so I basically told him, like, listen, you're going to need to give me grace because I'm probably going to miss your calls a lot. And forget to respond to you and all of that stuff. So, you know, anyways, all that to say, I'm not getting those notifications anymore. And so the hope is that, you know, again, I'm being unplugged with not wearing my watch. But the second reason that I want to not wear my watch is to track less, right?
00:19:03
Speaker
I don't need to track my steps. I don't need to track the calories that i burn in my workout or how many workouts I do. i don't need to track the food that I'm eating. I haven't tracked my food in a few months at this point, right? I don't need to track these things. And I think that By unplugging um in in you know the social media notification, you know phone frame of mind, but also unplugging from tracking so many things, for me personally, i think that that's going to have a lot of value. And so that is a goal that I'm working on, um is just not trying to track as many things. I think sometimes um when we are tracking our steps and our workouts and things like that, we get more...
00:19:49
Speaker
focused and obsessed with that than just the activity. And nothing is going to change with my activity if I track or if I don't track. I will say when I've been going on walks, I've definitely had to use my my memory as far as how long I think I'm going for a walk and I'm using time instead of like steps or miles, right? Distance, any of that stuff. But anyways, all that to say, I'm just relearning how to do these things that aren't going to change just because I'm not tracking them. So why am I tracking them? Why do I care so much about them? Right. And so i don't know. going to try that this year. it's just a mini goal that I have. Um,
00:20:27
Speaker
Um, in that line of logic, um, weighing myself less, because again, it's not going to make any difference as far as what I eat or don't eat, how I move or don't move. So like, okay, why do we care? Like I care more about how I feel, how my clothes feel, um, my energy, my digestion, my sleep, my strength, my workouts, you know what i mean? Like pay attention to other things rather than just being so dialed into like numbers and metrics. Um, and then last thing with that line of logic, um,
00:20:56
Speaker
you know I say this a lot, and and there's a networking group that I'm part of that meets every single week. And in that group, they asked, what was what is something, basically a goal that you have in your business for the year?
00:21:10
Speaker
And my response was basically, um i am not a great business owner, first of all. like I've said that to so many people. And what I mean by that is, i am a coach. I am a trainer. i That is what I believe I am on this earth to do is to encourage and to direct and to guide and to support and to, you know what i mean? Like that is what I'm good at. I am not good at a business owner. And I think sometimes we forget when you are a small business owner, you have so many hats you have to wear. Some of those hats are accounting. Some of those hats are marketing. And in that marketing, you have to be good at like email marketing, social media, and then social media changes all the time. And it's just like, it's a lot, right?
00:21:54
Speaker
And so all that to say, um i will be the first person to admit I'm not a great business owner. I have forgotten to invoice clients many times in the past because I care more about the product. I care more about helping the people, right?
Balancing Business Metrics and Personal Growth
00:22:08
Speaker
And so anyways, all that to say, i don't really care as much about numbers as I probably should. i mean, if I'm being perfectly honest with you. But i think that last year,
00:22:22
Speaker
um I got into, i would say, a little overwhelmed because I tried to focus on the numbers a lot. I tried to really be a good business owner and I tried to focus on the numbers and, you know, was I growing and this and that and this and that. And if I'm being honest with you, I really think that that was part of my my overwhelm that led me to really needing to take a step back from a lot of things to to not be on social media for I forget how long, but let's just say about five months to take a break from this podcast, to take a break from things that bring me joy because I'm focused so much on, again, numbers, metrics, same idea as why I'm trying to not wear my watch, right? See the parallels? um
00:23:06
Speaker
And I think that for somebody like myself, I get so lost in that stuff that I forget the point. I forget um that that's not the point. And so one of my other goals in that line of logic is to remember, like, listen, you're on this earth to do this, at least for right now, at least for this phase of my life, right? And I do think that there is a portion of that where I need to just have an honest conversation with myself and say, Aerie, nothing that you've done in your own effort has actually gotten you to where you are, which is not really, I'm not saying I'm necessarily like, oh, I'm
00:23:41
Speaker
you know, doing great. I'm just saying the clients that I've gotten, the opportunities that I've had thus far in my life, it's not been of your effort. And so why are we trying so hard when we just need to like appreciate, um you know, the opportunity that you've been given, let go and let God, right? let like Trust his timing. Trust that his plan is has gotten you where you are that has been able to help so many people and will continue to help so many people. But you don't have to try so hard, right? And by trying so hard, it's not good for you. So know thyself. Grow, right? Grow, understand what's serving you and what's not. We're always trying to kind of recalibrate again in the new year and kind of just identify like, okay,
00:24:24
Speaker
I'm, you know, I should be working towards this, but check in with yourself. Are you, you know what i mean? Like, is there value there or do we need to kind of reframe things? Um, kind of going back to the whole physical goal thing. Do you have a physical goal? Awesome. What's the cost associated with reaching that goal? You know what i mean? Like be specific. Um, what, what are you willing and able to do to reach that goal? And well, I should say,
00:24:49
Speaker
What are you willing to do to reach that goal? And is that cost associated with it, right? You're going to have to make choices. Nothing changes if nothing changes. And are those changes worth it? And you might say, yes, awesome.
00:25:00
Speaker
All power to you. But you might say no. And I don't think that that's wrong for questioning. I think that, you know, it's just being honest with yourself. And I think that that is when we find goals that are more in alignment with who we are and the life that we're trying to live. um And so I hope that this kind of gave you some insight.
Reflecting on Past Achievements
00:25:16
Speaker
um You know, new year really has an opportunity to reflect on what, you know, did or didn't work in the last year um and kind of just look to what can I build on that did work or what do I need to tweak or what other goal do I need to chase? You know, maybe if it was unrealistic in the new year, right? What do I want this year to look like? And so I hope that that kind of gave you some parameters. um
00:25:41
Speaker
in order to kind of just get a little bit more specific in terms of what you want for this next year. if ah Again, if there's anything that I've said in this show that um you know you want to chat more about, you want me to you know touch more about or questions or anything like that, I would love to hear from you. Otherwise, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Happy New Year. And let's make some great things happen this year.