Resolution and New Year!

HOW TO MAKE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS STICK

By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore

At the beginning of each year so many of us commit to changes and worthy
goals to be accomplished in the next twelve months only to be
disappointed come next December 31 when we discover we are no closer to
achieving those resolutions than we were on January 1. The noble
resolutions we made early on became unstuck. So I looked at this dilemma
and created four useful suggestions to increase the probability that
your New Year’s resolutions will stick this year.

1. Quantify it. Sometimes we are just too vague about what we want.
Therefore, a resolution such as, “I want to lose weight this year” will
probably fail. It is too vague. How much weight? Be specific. What would
your ideal weight be, less what do you weigh now, is what you are going
after. It is not enough to resolve that; “I want enough money in the
bank this year”. Quantify. What specific amount would soothe your soul?

2. Set a deadline. Resolutions that are to be achieved “as soon as
possible” wind up in the heap of “Someday I’ll”. Deadlines are
commitments. Without a deadline as a self-imposed pressure point,
getting started is easily postponed. You see, deadlines put us on the
line and define when failure occurs. Deadlines also help us to break the
resolution down into little bite-sized pieces. For example, if your goal
is to lose 25 pounds by June 30, that translates into approximately 4
pounds per month, one pound per week, or a daily reduction of caloric
intake (or an increase in daily caloric burn) of just 500 calories per
day. Now that’s manageable. 500 calories a day is easy to achieve. 25
pounds seems like a leap across the Grand Canyon. Until we quantify our
goal, set a deadline, then break it down to its daily requirements, the
resolution will forever seem unattainable.

3. Change one or two things at a time. We generally do not like change
in the first place. We seek the familiar and avoid the strange. The more
change you put yourself through, the higher the probability your
campaign will collapse. Focus in on one or two of the more important
resolutions you seek to accomplish this year. When you achieve one or
the other, start on the next one. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too much
change all at once.

4. Be realistic. There’s just something about the start of a new year
that gets us all wound up for changes in our lives, sometimes
extraordinary and unrealistic changes. We become much like the child in
the candy store whose eyes are bigger than his stomach. Be realistic.
You can only accomplish a certain amount within a period of time. Don’t
saddle yourself with unrealistic resolutions that will only spell
failure later on.