Goals for the New Year can be the bain of your existence and, let’s be real, there’s no point setting them if they’re terrifying and unattainable. Never fear, we’ve brought in the big guns to help you get sorted for 2018.

Local Gold Coast pharmacist Holly Louise, better known by her alias #thefitpharmacist, who has provided us with some hints and tips to sticking to your New Year’s goals.

The perfect time to make resolutions for the year ahead. But are they the same ones you have made every year?

What has held you back from achieving your health and fitness goals in the past?

In society today, everyone wants results without putting in the time and effort required to achieve them. Rather than setting aside time to gather information, gain knowledge, and construct a reasonable plan for accomplishing their “goals”, people are often looking for quick fixes. So when they don’t reach their goals in the first few weeks, they lose interest and quit.

The importance and value of goal setting is often overlooked and the biggest mistake most people make is setting unrealistic or unspecific goals. “I want to lose weight” or “I want to get fit” are the most common ones I come across with my clients. The difference between setting these goals and actually achieving them is in the details. The most effective way to set a goal AND achieve it is to follow the SMART approach:

SPECIFIC

• What do you want to accomplish?
• What are your specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal?
• Who will be involved?
• Where will you do it?

Your goal must be specific rather than general in order to be effective. Setting large, vague goals will not motivate you to achieve them.

MEASURABLE

• How will you measure your progress?
• How will you know when you have reached your goal?

Measuring progress towards the achievement of the goal is essential. If a goal is not measurable it is not possible to know whether you are making progress towards completion. Measuring progress helps you stay on track, reach your target dates and continue putting in the effort required to reach the ultimate goal. Remember, what can be measured, can’t be managed.

ACHIEVABLE

• How will achieve your goal?
• What are you prepared to do?

It must be possible for you to achieve your goal. Setting unachievable, unattainable goals is pointless. You will be doomed from the outset. You yourself need to be capable of implementing your goal.

RELEVANT/REALISTIC

• Is your goal realistic?
• Is it too difficult to achieve?

Your goal must be relevant to the resources and constraints available to you. Your goal should be challenging, but not so big or complex that you will lose the motivation to achieve it.

TIMELY

• What is the timeframe?
• Is it achievable?

A goal must have a deadline. This will provide you with the necessary focus and sense of urgency to make it happen.

Take some time now to think about what benefits you would gain from goal setting and finally being able to achieve your New Year’s goals. It is a good idea to set a few action-oriented SMART goals and revisit them often. Not only will this give you a game plan, but it will keep motivation levels high as you start reaching them. The sum of achieving many small short term goals all add up to big changes in the long term!

Time to make this year your best year yet!

By Holly Louise #thefitpharmacist

No matter how you’re feeling right now or what you’re current situation is, there’s no doubt we can all use a little bit more health and happiness in our lives. So we’ve collected the five top tips to ensure your week is that little bit healthier from now on in. Take care of yourselves Gold Coasters.

Get up an hour earlier
It doesn’t seem like much but you’d be surprised how much you can fit into an hour. There’s nothing worse for your brain than waking up, going to work, going home, watching TV and going back to bed – where’s the relaxation? Instead of reaching straight for your phone the minute you wake up, roll straight out of bed and into some sort of exercise or stretching routine, play with the dog, cook yourself a healthy breakfast and ease into your day. You’ll soon see that starting your morning in a slower, more relaxed way sets the tone for the rest of your day.

Plan your meals
It sounds a little bit like something your Nanna would do but trust us, planning your meals will make life a million times simpler and healthier. Everyone knows what happens when you go to the supermarket after work, usually on an empty stomach and with very little willpower – you end up with an entrée of cheese and biccies followed by garlic bread and a big old bowl of spaghetti bolognaise. Delicious sure, but not so much on the healthy side. Planning allows you to choose healthy options, buy everything you need at once and not be tempted by the lure of excessive carbs.

Sleep enough
Ahh the ever elusive shut eye. It’s highly likely you aren’t getting enough of it what with work, exercising, eating and those all-important Netflix binges taking up so much of your time. Something’s gotta give though and usually that thing is your health, or your sanity. They say you need at least eight hours but in truth, you need as much as you need. If you’re tired, sleep more, it’s imperative to both your mental and physical health (and the people who have to put up with you). If you need a nap through the day, go for it, this is your permission slip.

Take time out
You’ve been hearing people bang on about the miraculous benefits of meditation for awhile now and those people aren’t lying. It is one of the best ways to calm your mind, find out the answers to life’s big questions and generally just take time out from the chaos of day to day life. Seems overwhelming though right? Sitting down in silence and trying not to think. It can be simple though, start with five minutes of deep breathing and don’t be discouraged if your mind wanders, just stay there and enjoy the serenity, before you know it you’ll crave that time out.

Move your body
Although it’s easier said than done to get up off the couch when it’s cold out, the benefits are about three million fold. Even if you just go for a short walk around the block or do some easy stretching, your body will absolutely thank you. There are plenty of online workouts and yoga classes to choose from too so you don’t need to spend money on exercising to see the benefits. Morning is probably the best time of day to move, it’ll make you feel good all day but anytime will do. You’ll be happy you did.

Words by Kirra Smith

What do you get when you cross a laidback Hawaiian brewmaster with a former Aussie Corporate Finance Lawyer? Burleigh Brewing Co. of course.

We sat down for a chat with the couple who pioneered a new era of craft brewing on the Coast.

It’s International Beer Day this Friday, will you be doing anything to celebrate?
Every day feels like International Beer Day for us! Our taphouse is open to the public every Friday evening and this week is no different – Live Music by Benny D. Williams, food by Wiener Haus and 24 taps of awesome local beer by Burleigh Brewing. Surely that beats ‘international beer’ any day of the week 😉

How long have you both lived on the Gold Coast?
I (Peta) grew up in Brissie, with the Gold Coast a bit of a second home. I moved here 28 years ago, then went on a bunch of overseas adventures (for about 8 years in total) and moved back permanently in 2002. I moved back at that point with a husband and 2 kids. The things you collect when travelling the world, hey! Brennan: Peta brought me to Burleigh Heads for a holiday in the late nineties … part of me decided at that point it was a place I could call home!

What made you decide to open the brewery here?
Burleigh provided the perfect location for us to bring our Burleigh Brewing vision to life – a village atmosphere and lifestyle in a region with ‘big city infrastructure’ to support our business goals, and a community to which we could contribute in a meaningful way – and, hopefully, become a treasured part of that community, adding to the overall fabric of Burleigh Heads and the broader Gold Coast. It also offered the opportunity for us to create jobs for people which would mean a very short commute, often on a bike, and time at the beginning / end of the day to enjoy their families and the amazing place where we all live!

Who comes up with the ideas for each of flavours of beer? More importantly, who comes up with their names?
Creating a new Burleigh brew is a team effort. They’ve all come from some kind of experience or adventure and in many ways, the names have come along as part of that process. Take My Wife’s Bitter for example. When we owned a brewery in Hawaii, we named a beer after each of our kids. Peta figured she also deserved a beer named in her honour. And so it was.

What do you love about our city?
The beauty, the energy, the people. We love that we are able to move between our property (with our horses) to our business to the kids’ school and the surf – all within a 15 minute radius. It makes for a pretty special lifestyle. Those of us who get to live and work in this city are a lucky bunch!

The Coast’s culture has changed so much over the last few years, how do you think BBC has contributed to that?
I suppose we could claim to have pioneered a new era in craft brewing on the Gold Coast – which has certainly been part of energizing and releasing the latent creative talent and culture here. And more than just brewing beer, our goal is to inspire others to live their passions too and celebrate ours with the beer we make! I believe that the creative, cultural undercurrent has existed for a long time here, but the maturing of the city in terms of infrastructure, transport etc has really enhanced the opportunities to bring it all to life.

How did you come to be here, tell me about your backgrounds?
It sounds like the start of a corny joke. What do you get when you cross a laid back, surf-loving Hawaiian brewmaster with an Aussie, former corporate finance lawyer? Our paths were certainly very different, but we’re pretty grateful that they crossed.

How did the brewery come about?
Brennan was born to brew! It’s the only real job he’s ever had and he’s as passionate today about the process of creating the perfect brew as he was the day he began. I had an equally strong passion – to create something that didn’t exist before. I didn’t know what it would look like, but I knew how it would feel. So I guess we are two people who came together to turn what we love into what we do.

What have you got coming up for the rest of the year?
There’s always something brewing in our world! New beers, new ways for people to experience our taphouse and our brewery, new ideas and new opportunities to enjoy them. Summer – and the lead up to it – is a pretty crazy time in a brewery. Crazy good.

Best piece of life advice you’ve ever received?
Mum always told me that your nail polish should match your drink and that the toilet furthest from the door in the public loo is the cleanest. Not sure those gems have been the most useful. Dad was a bit more profound. There are no wrong decisions. Just make a decision. And then work like hell to prove it was the right one. Brennan likes to remind himself that the definition of an idiot is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

Being a Gold Coast local we have to ask your Favourites:
Beach: Burleigh Heads
Café: Social Brew. It almost sounds like a brewery.
Restaurant: Anything that stocks a great range of independent beers!Weekend hang: Burleigh Point – or the fire pit in our back yard