Ten Tips For Keeping Your New Years Resolutions

January 12, 2009 at 3:29 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to 2009! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year.

As we know, January is a time for setting resolutions. We also know that resolutions tend to be broken.

The most common resolutions that people make include:

ü Losing weight

ü Becoming more fit

ü Giving up something (unhealthy food, smoking, drinking)

ü Reducing debt

ü Getting organized

These topics become important to us towards the end of December because the holidays are typically a time of excess. We eat, drink and spend too much and we don’t get enough sleep.

By January 1, we’re emotionally and physically ready to get back into a routine and we make resolutions based on this readiness.

By mid-January, however, we’re starting to lose our motivation. We may not be seeing the results we had hoped for or we’ve set goals that require major changes that are difficult to maintain.

So, in order to support you, here are some tips for keeping your New Year’s Resolutions.

1. Find a goal that is really, really attractive for you. Don’t do something just because you feel you should or because “it’s the right thing to do.” Find a goal that excites you – for whatever reason.

Most resolutions are made on New Year’s Eve without a lot of forethought.

Spend some time thinking about why you want to achieve this goal and what meaning it would have in your life when you achieve it.

2. Set a smart goal. A smart goal is:

S – Specific

M – Measureable

A – Attractive

R – Realistic

T – time-limited

Examples of goals that are not SMART:

I will eat better.

I will become well-read.

Examples of goals that are SMART:

I will make vegetables the main ingredient in dinner three times this week.

I will read three chapters a week in A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway until I have finished it.

3. Take baby steps. Change has to be manageable.

You need to set goals in small increments based on where you are now.

Want to drink more water? How much do you drink now? If you don’t drink any water, don’t make it a goal to drink eight glasses tomorrow. Trust me, your bladder will thank you for this. Make it a goal to drink one glass a day for the next week. Sure, you’re short of the daily intake recommendation of six to eight glasses but if you drink one glass a day you’re doing way better than you were last week when you weren’t drinking any.

It takes approximately three weeks to establish any new habit. Making small, slow changes makes it much easier to stick with them. Each change builds upon the last one and each change should be well established before you add a new one.

Picture a set of stairs where you climb one step at a time. Each step also has a level place where you can rest if you need to.

4. Get rid of the all or nothing thinking. Go easy on yourself.

A resolution should not be a matter of doing it perfectly or not doing it at all.

Most resolutions are long-term lifestyle changes. The goal should be to do better than you were even if it’s not 100%.

For instance, if your goal is to eat healthier, we know that proper eating includes five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Let’s say you started the year not really eating any fruits and veggies. Over a few weeks you’ve built up to a habit of eating four servings per day.

Then comes the week where life happens and you’re not consistently eating four servings. We all have those weeks.

Rather than throwing up your hands in despair because you’ve broken the resolution, tell yourself that you’ve merely been sidetracked.

Have a look over the last week and notice why you didn’t get as many servings as usual. What could you change or incorporate for the next time life happens?

Then get back to your four servings a day.

5. Tell people about your resolution. Be accountable for your plans.

We tend to get projects finished at work and at school because we have deadlines and someone making sure we meet them.

Personal projects don’t tend to have that accountability to another person. So create some! Tell supportive friends and family what you’re doing. Hire a coach. Write down your goals so you remember them.

I guarantee that there is nothing that gets us moving faster than knowing that someone will be asking “soooo, that thing you were doing back in January, how’s that going??”

6. Use positive language when stating your goal.

Say: “I will eat 4 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day”

Not: “I will not eat junk food.”

The reason for this is that our brains don’t process the negative word “not”. Our brain hears “I will eat junk food” and then what do you go and do? Right! Exactly what you said you weren’t going to do.

Here’s an example of this. Right now, I’m going to ask you to NOT think of a purple elephant with white spots.

What did you think of?

I’ll bet it was a purple elephant with white spots.

And if I ask you to NOT think of potato chips?

Yep.

7. Incorporate rewards. Change is hard!! Congratulate yourself for what you’ve accomplished.

We don’t tend to be very good at celebrating our little, imperfect selves so here’s a list to get you started. Feel free to add to this list.

Go to the library

Take yourself to lunch

Sleep in

Have a bath

Watch a silly movie

Colour a picture

Get a massage

Close your eyes and think of someplace warm for five minutes

Say yes to something new

Say no to something

Spend the day in your pyjamas

Make a snow angel

List 5 things you do well

Pet a dog or a cat

Bake a white cake and put food colouring in the batter

Let someone do you a favour

Listen to your favourite music

Rearrange a room

Try a new flavoured coffee or herbal tea

Turn up some music and sing along

Read a good book

Enjoy some alone time

Send a card to yourself

Call a good friend

8. Think of a resolution as a chance to try something new. Instead of making a resolution that sounds like a punishment, think of fun things you can try.

Want to lose weight? Go try a belly-dancing class (tons of fun and a great workout)

Want to eat more veggies? Have fun finding new recipes (assuming you enjoy cooking)

Want to be a better conversationalist? Get a subscription to a magazine that interests you so you can stay on top of current events (or better yet, borrow some back issues from the library).

Make it fun.

9. Keep trying!

Human beings are imperfect. Setbacks are normal.

Knowing this will help you to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going if your motivation flags.

The more you keep at it, even with setbacks, the greater the likelihood that you will succeed.

The worst thing you can do when trying to make a lifestyle change is throw up your arms in despair and throw in the towel.

10. Recognize that you DO have the power to change.

You have no choice about what’s already happened in your past. You definitely have the power to affect your future. Setting goals is about making a choice to take control of our future.

Even if you don’t make it all the way to where you want to be, it’s much better to have taken a few positive steps towards your goal rather than staying at exactly the same place that you’re dissatisfied with now.

The De-Cluttering Diva