How to stick to your New Year’s Resolution
January 26th, 2009 -
“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.” ~ Henry Moore.
So it’s the end of January 2009.
How are you doing with those resolutions you made on January 1st?
The majority of people will answer that they have already started to falter or maybe that those resolutions have already been left by the wayside. Studies show that most people who make resolutions at the entrance of the new year have already given up on them by the end of the first month. So if this is you then you are not alone.
Why do people make resolutions?
Usually because they have reflected on their life and see a need to make a change for the better. They recognize that, in most cases, all that is keeping them from their goal is will power. So they make up their mind to exercise their willpower and make those changes. Most resolutions are positive and laudable and will bring great improvement and benefit into a person’s life if it is achieved. So the question then, is why do we not stick with it? Why do we give up on our resolutions so soon?
A Possible Practical Resolution
Well the first thing to consider is whether your resolution is possible to start with? Let’s say you resolve to visit your grandmother in the nursing home every weekend. Sounds plausible, but if granma lives more than 48 hours away from where you live, it is simply not possible to visit her every weekend. It will take more time than is physically available in a weekend to visit her. This is obvious in this case but many resolutions are similarly impossible but the impossibility is not so obvious. So hold your resolution up to the light and examine it.
Okay so now you know your resolution is possible. Now let’s see if it is practical. Lets say you resolve to eat only one meal a day. It is possible but is it practical? You will spend much of time being hungry and thinking about food. This will hamper your ability to achieve much else in your life. Similarly, resolving to exercise for 2 hours every day may also be impractical given your schedule. How do you know if a resolution is practical? If your instinct tells you that it will be almost impossible to maintain your resolution given your resources then it’s a safe bet that your resolution is simply not practical right now.
Why don’t we keep our resolutions?
So now you have resolution that is possible and practical. So why aren’t you keeping it? I am sure that the day you made it you were very firm in your intention to keep it. You felt the need and the motivation to do this act you had resolved to do. So what has happened to that motivation? And what does it take to keep your resolution?
Well there are many factors that contribute to your keeping a resolution. A primary one is motivation. But the real nuts and bolts of keeping a resolution has to do with your ability to be consistent. What does it mean to be consistent? Well, it means that you behaviour is reliable and steady and that you will stick to performing the same activity again and again as scheduled.
So if you resolve to eat healthy, you eat healthy every day at every meal. At every opportunity to eat you choose the healthy foods. And you make this choice over and over, day after day – consistently.
The importance of Consistency in keeping Resolutions
Essentially consistency relates to the ability to make the same choice repeatedly regardless of the circumstances. So it does not matter whether you are tempted with salads or birthday cake, you will make the same choice to eat healthy in both situations. In essence, you are remaking or reconfirming your original resolution each time you make a choice that results in your performing an act consistent with that resolution.
This sounds simple enough. So why do so many of us fail?
Because we do not make the choice that supports the resolution in every instance. We allow our decision to become dependent on the circumstances in which it is made rather than our resolve and intention to act in a certain way.
As an example, if I resolve to wake at 4:30 every morning, I must wake at that time regardless of whether it is cold, or whether I went to bed after midnight or whether I am tired or whether I do not have work that day. But for our resolutions to succeed and be useful to us, we choose not to allow them to become dogmatic. So I wont awaken at 4:30 if I am sick or if I went to bed only an hour earlier. Because in these circumstances I would be unable to function and the resolution will not be serving my best interests.
Therefore in some circumstances it is necessary to allow the decision to be dependent on the circumstances. But we must have for ourselves very clear guidelines of what circumstances can be allowed to influence our decision. And we must set these guidelines clearly beforehand , optimally at the same time that we make the resolution. So considering this, my resolution would become “To wake at 4:30 every morning provided that I went to bed by midnight and that I am not ill.†This is very clear and leaves no room for excuses, laziness and just plain inertia to alter my decision.
So in order to keep our resolutions, we must make the same decision over and over regardless of the circumstances……… and regardless of how we feel about making that decision. Next day we will discuss how to stick to our resolution even when we do not “feel†like it.
“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” ~ Cavett Robert
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- The Power of Realistic Positive Thinking
- How to become an Optimist – Part I
- Coping with Stress – Part I
- Quit Smoking in the New Year
- Achieving Your Goals Part I – Goal Identification
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