Don’t.
Just don’t.
Don’t make a New Year’s Resolution.
The percentage of failed New Year’s Resolutions is staggering. Studies have shown that at the end of the year, somewhere between 9 and 12% of people have actually been successful at keeping their Resolutions. A little disheartening.
I know some of you are thinking that probably means they didn’t really care about the resolution or it wasn’t that important to them, but what if that isn’t really the problem?
Most of us have committed to a New Year’s resolution and have failed miserably. Some of us have set resolutions and have been successful, so there has to be a way to do a resolution successfully. There is!
But we aren’t going to call them resolutions. We are going to redefine these as new life patterns.
Want to be healthier? Begin a new pattern of eating healthier, drinking more water, exercising more.
Want to read more? Start a new habit of reading a little each day or every week.
Want to spend less? Create a budget and log your spending daily.
The key to all of these (and others) is to create a new pattern of life for yourself that will accommodate these new behaviors. Something else to remember is that you don’t have to change everything all at one time. Take them one bite at a time.
If the goal is to be healthier, start with drinking more water in January. In February, begin changing your food choices and continue drinking the water. In March, start that exercise routine alongside the healthy habits of drinking water and making wiser food choices. Boom. By April, a new healthier routine should be established. But, if at any point along the way, snags happen, just begin again. Don’t give up!
The New Year gives us permission to examine what we would like to be different about our lives, but each day, each moment, gives us a new opportunity to DO something different. If we give up when we trip up, we will never succeed.
Think of all the people that you know that are successful. Do you think they did one thing that created their success and never tripped along the way? NO. Their success is based on a series of actions- some of which were successful and some which were failures, but the sum total is that they continued to work toward success. That’s the real key to sticking to a New Year’s resolution.
So, this year, don’t have a Resolution, create a Revolutionary pattern of actions to follow that will lead you down the path of success toward your goal. One day at a time. One moment at a time. And if you trip up, don't give up! Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep moving toward success.
Happy New Year!
Odona