As we finish up the holiday season and head into the New Year there’s one thing that’s on top of many people’s minds… New Year’s Resolutions.
You know the ones I’m talking about….
“I’m going to lose weight.”
“I’m going to get myself organized this year”
“I’m going to be on time for things.”
“I’m going to join a gym and go at least 3 times each week”
What do all these New Year’s Resolutions have in common?
Easy answer….They will all be forgotten in a few weeks and in some cases days…
In their place those old habits that got you where you are today will come roaring back along with the same old uneasy feeling of guilt and failure.
Think about it.. how many times have you made the same Resolution over and over only to end up right back where you started.
You aren’t alone.. One study found that found that four out of five people will eventually break their resolutions. And even more shocking, one-third of them won’t even hang on until the end of January!
Ditch the Resolution
Making New Year’s resolutions is something that’s been ingrained in our culture as far back as I can remember… It’s such a strong tradition that it’s more unusual to find someone who DIDN”T make a resolution than to find one who did.
Yet when you consider that less than about 8% of people actually succeed in the resolution they’ve made, perhaps we should consider that the unusual person is onto something.
We certainly think so which is why we tell people to ditch the resolution!
So why do most people fail with their New Year’s Resolution?
The 2 main reasons that we’ve found are a lack of vision and lack of planning.
What does that mean? We humans are creatures of habits and those habits are literally ingrained into our brain. In fact, if you were to have a brain scan, your habits would be visible.
You see, your habits are physical pathways that your brain enjoys traveling because they are familiar and it requires little energy. In other words your brain LIKES doing the same things over and over again which is why change is so hard.
Since your brain is always interested in conserving energy, changing habits is not just a simple act of changing your mind; you literally have to rewire your brain and create new neural pathways.
So what can you do?
Well, instead of making yet another New Year’s Resolution that will fall by the wayside in a matter of weeks or days try a different approach…one that focuses not on goal aka “Resolution” but instead on changing your habits.
Because when you focus on changing your habits instead of the actual goal that’s when real change occurs and you’re chances of success skyrocket.
How do you do that? Well here’s some of the things we have our clients do that have been proven to work:
Pick one - Choose one specific area, one habit that you would like to change, and focus on that area for several weeks. Start small - Set a goal, and then break it down into manageable chunks. It could be something like I’m going to eat a healthy breakfast every day or I’m going to make sure I drink at least half my bodyweight in water each day.
Plan for roadblocks - I hate to break it to you but you’re going to run into roadblocks. It’s inevitable cause well.. Life happens. The solution is to anticipate rough times and have a strategy in place to deal with it. Then when you run across a roadblock you can power through it instead of trying to scramble and find a way around it.
Set Up Visual Reminders - Put your habit on post it notes and put them around your house or office. Heck one client has her habit taped to the steering wheel of her car. You don’t have to write a novel, one word will do the trick. This will give you a daily reminder and help keep you on track. It’s also been proven that having a visual cue to refer to will motivate you to keep working on those new neural pathways.
Be clear on your “why” - If you don’t have a strong “why” in front of you, you will not achieve the life change that you desire. Saying “I want to lose a few pounds” isn’t really an objective it’s a wish. Saying “I want to lose X pounds so that I’ll have more energy to play with my grandkids or So I’ll look and feel better about myself which will give me more confidence is a much stronger “why” the simply saying I want to lose a few pounds.
The good news is that while the old habit circuitry in your brain may not every fully go away, you can build new circuits that will eventually become as strong, and in many cases even stronger than the old ones.
When this happens, you have not just made and kept a New Year’s Resolution. Rather, you have changed your life.
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