Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Summary
In the final 40+ Fitness Podcast episode of 2025, Coach Allan tackles the year-end look back, look forward ritual most of us run around the holidays and explains why most people do it wrong. He names three core mistakes: we do not take responsibility for why we are where we are (illustrated by a guest at his bed and breakfast, Nancy, who blamed the stairs and her age rather than a lifetime without strength training), we do not forgive ourselves for past failures (often signaled by an internal voice using always or never), and we do not focus our changes on things that actually matter, whether by fixating on outcomes we cannot control, choosing unsustainable daily actions, or setting goals too vague to measure.
He then walks through four steps for the year ahead: ask why this matters to build a solid foundation, take responsibility for your future actions (including hiring a coach and surrounding yourself with good peer pressure), and get to know yourself through self awareness, which he frames with his own windshield mindset story of comparing himself to a younger, fitter version of himself. His fourth step is setting better goals using ASMART, adding an A for actionable to the familiar specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. He urges making early goals stupid easy for near 100% confidence, stacking them incrementally, limiting yourself to 1 to 3 goals, and turning goals into habits, where the real magic happens.
Links
Key Takeaways
- Take responsibility for where you are: Aging weaker, fatter, and less able is not inevitable; owning your current state rather than blaming age or circumstances is the starting point for change.
- Forgive past failures and drop always or never: Learn from poor choices instead of chastising yourself, and watch for internal self talk using always or never as a sign you are stuck.
- Start with why: A solid why puts a fire under you and creates a foundation that keeps you from slipping when motivation fades.
- Set ASMART goals built on actions, not outcomes: Make goals actionable, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound, since you never fully control outcomes but you do control your actions.
- Make early goals stupid easy and stack them: Aim for near 100% confidence, then make each next goal incrementally harder so wins compound over time.
- Turn goals into habits and limit your focus: Set only 1 to 3 goals so you can focus and win, because once an action becomes a habit it no longer needs to be a goal.
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 733 – Healthy to 100 with Ken Stern
Episode Notes
Podcast: 40+ Fitness
Episode: 727
Published: 2025-12-30
Host: Allan Misner (aka Coach Allan), author of The Wellness Roadmap
Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube (audio only)