Striving for change and New Year’s resolutions are an integral part of entering the New Year. Unfortunately, they often become the subject of jokes in a moment – few of the ambitious plans live to see implementation. What can you do to persevere with your New Year’s resolutions?
Research shows that as many as 77% of people enter the New Year with a resolution. The top resolutions are to quit an addiction (47%), lose weight (38%) or improve their finances (34%). Unfortunately, but the statistics are inexorable – about 8% of these people achieve their goal. Why is this?
One of the reasons why New Year’s resolutions fail so often is that they are unrealistically formulated. It’s hard to expect to increase your salary by 50% in three months, and it’s rather difficult to lose 10 kg before the carnival is over. Lack of progress towards an unrealistically formulated goal breeds more and more frustration and disappointment. Eventually the plan is abandoned for good
The way we reach our goals can also be flawed. We throw ourselves in at the deep end because we want to radically change our lives in a short period of time. Such an approach rarely results in strengthening the positive habit we want. The method of small steps works better, but too often we want to achieve the effect here and now.
The key to having a better chance at tackling your New Year’s resolutions will be to time your tasks appropriately. The goal must be achievable within a given period of time – ideally it should be achievable in stages so that overcoming successive barriers is felt
There is nothing worse than not being precise with your goals. “Improving health” is too general and difficult to achieve. It will be much easier to fight for the realization of the assumption when it concerns, for example, a brisk walk for 30 minutes a day
The previous point is related to the next one: very often we want too much at once. Meanwhile, success can be worth more when we control one aspect well. Too many different tasks to fulfil can result in the fact that we will not be satisfied with any of them
It is sometimes the case that even after a long period of keeping resolutions, we will have a moment of weakness. A piece of cake eaten, a cigarette smoked, a moment of laziness in front of the TV for too long or a difficult but lucrative job rejected – these are just some of the things that can prevent us from fulfilling our resolutions. Do they derail everything and should we return to our old lifestyle because we no longer have a “clean slate” in the new year? Of course not. We’ve come far and the trick is to get back on track
Successes also need to be met with the right attitude. You have to be able to enjoy your results even if they are a little less than you had hoped. What is very important: if you want to quit smoking, then do not reward yourself with a “little smoke”, because such an action is against the assumptions. It’s better to buy yourself something nice, take time for a small trip or go out with friends.
In our struggle with resolutions sometimes it is good to involve family or friends. No one will be able to motivate us as much as they can on a daily basis
Finally, it is worth trying to make the results of resolutions become a habit. It is not about showing off your perseverance to your friends. We make resolutions for ourselves and that’s why their results should stay with us permanently
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