It’s hard to believe there are less than 20 days until the end of the year. 2012 is nearly extinct – about to vanish into thin air. And you know what that means … We’re about to see an explosion of New Year’s resolutions. And articles, Facebook updates, tweets and blog posts galore about how to make them and how to keep them.

This year, I’d like to challenge all of us to think differently about resolutions and our fitness goals. Don’t wait until January 1 (or every January 1^st) to set your expectations. Every day is a chance to get after it, to realize your hopes and find your extraordinary.

I did a little research and found that by the end of January, one-third of people will have broken their New Year’s resolutions. By July, more than half will have given up. (We can thank John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister, the authors of “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength,” for completely depressing us with this information.) A 2007 study by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol concluded that 88 percent of those who set New Year’s resolutions fail, even though more than half were confident they’d be successful at the beginning of the year. (These 3 guys need to get together for a drink. Can someone say Debbie downer?)

Perhaps if we changed our perspective on resolutions and goals, we could also change our behavior. What are you going to do tomorrow, or December 18^th or December 30^th to be the version of yourself you want to be? Every day we need to encourage ourselves to think about that. Of course it’s fine – even healthy – to consider the handful of things we want to accomplish or races we want to commit to in 2013. But the real task at hand isn’t making the resolution. It’s about making commitments to ourselves every day that will help us get there.

I started thinking about all of this after one of my boot camp instructors, Stacy Sax, shared some inspiring thoughts with me. As most of you know, I joined a boot camp called FitWit in November and am currently training 3 days a week with them. Stacy, a runner and certified personal trainer who also has her CrossFit Level 1 and Russian Kettlebell certification, shared the following thoughts with me. I want to share her words with you as we go into the holiday season and begin thinking about the New Year …

“Remember, fitness is a journey. It’s going to take time and effort to achieve the results you want. If you can honestly say that you are giving it your all every day, know that you are on the right path. You don’t have to be good at it, you just have to try! Fitness is one of the only things in life where you can succeed simply by giving your best effort. Eventually, the good days will outnumber the really tough days, and you’ll be in the best shape of your life.”

Here are a few of Stacy and her team’s philosophies to fitness. I’m going to keep these in mind as I not only think about my goals for 2013, but as I wake up every day and consider what I’ll do TODAY to accomplish the health and exercise expectations I have for myself.

• Hard work pays off.
• Fitness can be fun. Even though workouts may be tough, accomplishing goals, building camaraderie, looking better and living healthy should outweigh the sweat and tears.
• Fitness should include the following components: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, strength, stamina, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. A marathon runner who lacks power and a bodybuilder who can’t touch his toes are both lacking essential elements of fitness.
• Stretching and strengthening prevents injuries.
• Life is random so focus on training functionally.
• Fitness gadgets and gizmos have come and gone because they all promise to take hard work out of the equation and yet somehow get you in shape. Don’t believe the hype! Hard work, variety, nutrition, and accountability are the keys to achieving your fitness goals.

Want to be successful in achieving your goals today and in the New Year? Check out my 7 Do’s and Don’ts for turning motivation into action.

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How do you feel about New Year’s resolutions? Do you tend to stick with them or are you better at making smaller goals throughout the year? What do you think about Stacy’s fitness reflections and philosophies?