Reena Vokoun, founder of PassionFit, breaks down why most New Year's resolutions fail and how to be part of the 9% who succeed. She uses a four-pillar framework: mindset, behavior, reward system, and support system. Habits take 66 days to form, so start small, like adding one daily vegetable or a short walk.
The start of a new year is always a great time to assess routines, set new goals, and find the right people to support you as you chase those goals. For all the secrets you need to know on finding success, we turn to our friend from PassionFit. Reena, it is so nice to have you back on The Localist, Destinee. And because you're a recurring guest, a lot of our friends at home probably recognize you and already know about you. But for those just joining us, You started PassionFit. Tell us about this movement and why it's so important to you.
Yeah, so I started PassionFit, um, it'll be 10 years ago this year in 2024, and I really started it with a mission to empower people to flourish personally and professionally through wellness. I had a 16-year corporate career but also had a lifelong passion for health and wellness. So I've been certified and trained in many areas: fitness, nutrition, behavior change, mindfulness, health coaching, and more, and I just realized it was time to kind of make the leap because I really want to help others to find that balance in their life or that integration through wellness so they can be successful personally and professionally.
It's January, people are trying to make lifestyle changes, obviously New Year's resolutions. Yes. It's not as easy as one might think.
It really isn't. So according to Inc.com, of the 91% of Americans that make New Year's resolutions, Most of them actually don't achieve them, right? And it can be frustrating, both that statistic and making New Year's resolutions in general. But what I wanna do is help people to be in that 9% that actually can find success with their New Year's resolutions. And there's 4 ways to do that: your mindset, your behavior, your reward system, and your support system.
Let's start with mindset. That seems like a no-brainer that that is the beginning.
Yes, so your mindset is really your foundation when it does come to setting goals and New Year's resolutions. When you think about having a major transformation transformation in your life or having long-term health benefits or really living up to your full potential, those are pretty intrinsically motivated, strong reasons to stick to your goals versus maybe making resolutions because everybody else does, maybe your doctor's telling you to or your significant other is, and while that is important for those people to tell you to do those things, you have to want it within yourself.
I know, and I just think saying, "I can do this," helps. I mean, I get up early and work out before work and it is so cold. It's cold this time of year and dark. It's the last thing I wanna do, but when my alarm goes off, I'm just like, "I can do this," and I do it, and then it's done.
Yes, it's like a daily affirmation, right? And you have to give yourself that mental strength to be able to do something physically, so I love that you do that, and that's a great step.
All right, what else can we do?
So behavior. There's been a lot of science and research around the study of behavior change, and BJ Fogg is a PhD from Stanford University, and he has come up with a great system which focuses on simplicity. Simplicity when it comes to your behavior changes, associating positive feelings to them, and then staying motivated to keep going. And the time duration is also really important. So research shows that usually behavior changes take about 66 days—
mm-hmm.
—to become a regular lifestyle habit. So that's just a little over 2 months. Um, so let's give some examples. Let's say you want to improve your nutrition and your diet. So if you wanna eat 1 piece of fruit and 1 vegetable every day, you start doing that. You don't focus on what happened in the past or what's gonna happen in the future, but you focus on that 1 day It's a simple, attainable goal, and then you positively reinforce it. So basically tell yourself, you know what, I'm proud of myself. I had fruit for breakfast. I cooked vegetables for dinner tonight, and I'm gonna do this again for myself and my family tomorrow. And then you do it the next day, and then you positively associate it and keep going. And once you hit that 66-day, hopefully it will become a regular part of your daily lifestyle, and then you could add other simple changes. Maybe it's walking for 10 minutes every day, or maybe it's reading for 20 minutes before bedtime.
And you have to reward yourself once in a while, right? Right? Exactly.
So having a good reward system really acknowledges your efforts along the way. So maybe if you have been hitting your goals every month, maybe you go out and buy yourself a new shirt or, you know, a few pairs of socks or something, or you go out that weekend. And then if you get to the end of the year and you've been really keeping your efforts up month after month, and maybe if you hit a major milestone at the end of the year, you can do something bigger like a weekend getaway or a spa day or a golf outing. What else do you have for us? So the last thing is having a support system because despite our greatest efforts to stay motivated ourselves, sometimes we can't fully go at it alone, right? We have those hard, challenging days and we really need people to help lift us up when we're feeling down.
And you can be that support system for people as well through PassionFit. Reena, it is always so good to see you. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much, Ashley.
