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Photo Credit: Toast to 2012 from Flickr user Hakee Chang, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
It is well documented that only 10-20% or so of New Year’s resolutions succeed. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who visits a fitness center in early January, only to visit it again at the same time of day and day of week in February. So I generally advocate against New Year’s resolutions. I’ll admit to failing at plenty of my own. But, if you are going to insist on doing one, here are some ways to improve your odds of success.
What is so important about January 1? It is a date set solely by the need to realign the Julian calendar to the tropical year after Ceasar finished frolicking on the Nile with Cleopatra. Why not start your resolution when you think of it? By forcing it to a specific day – the same day everyone else does – you become victim to the crowds at the gym, the ads that undoubtedly more heavily promote weight loss products, the gimmicky device that promises to make you more (fill in the blank). You are mentally setting yourself up for failure, because you probably know the odds against you. And, you just finished the holidays, so you are, like this author, probably tired in January.
I would bet (and have experienced it personally) that making and beginning a commitment when the urge strikes you has a far higher chance of success than either delaying it or accelerating it to meet an artificially established date.
Your resolution isn’t actionable. Maybe you’ve defined a goal, but you don’t know how to start. Losing 10 pounds means nothing until you define how you will do it, and what behavior you need to change to get there. The more specific, the better – “exercise more” is only slightly more specific, but what type of exercise, and how often, and when, and why (are you exercising to lose weight, to build strength, etc. – this matters in selecting the type of exercise you do). Even better than making a resolution is committing to a habit. Instead of committing to lose weight, commit to track your calories. The behavior will breed the results, and is far easier to start and track.
Your resolution is too ambitious. Failing at the first step (or, even worse, not having a first step to measure) dooms the whole endeavor. Make it smaller and achievable – instead of “eating less”, make it “stop taking food off the kids’ plates when they are finished” (the only resolution I made this year – in addition to beginning to track calories again, which reinforces the behavior of not taking food off the kids’ plates).
You have no milestones for celebrating success or adjusting progress. OK, let’s say you did resolve to lose 10 pounds. Where do you want to be at the end of January? You may be able to convince yourself that you’ll lose the 10 pounds in December (if you’ve gone so far as to set a date for meeting your commitment), but is that realistic? What will you do about the 5 pounds you gained while dallying? Set meaningful milestones and set aside the time to review and adjust your plans accordingly.
You don’t make it part of your regular rhythm. If you want to exercise daily, did you schedule it? Did you set aside time to do so? Do you have access to the equipment or tools needed? Just willing it to happen isn’t going to make it happen, you need to provide the environment to make it easy – in fact, it needs to be the obvious choice of how to spend your time at certain points of the day.
You are trying to add to an already overfull calendar (or, even worst, mind). Too many resolutions involve “doing more”. Did you have so much spare time before that you can now afford to cram the schedule more full of commitments, without giving something up? Why not find one that involves “doing less”? Erin Ruyle had it right when she recognized that social media is task avoidance, so she gave up dailymile. Better yet, think bigger and list out all of your goals, as this article suggests, and then pare back the ones that aren’t as important. If the commitment is only in your mind, and not captured on paper, does it really exist.
You kept your goal to yourself. Maybe you didn’t have the confidence in your ability to meet your goal to make it public. Well, then, there is practically no hope for you. Sharing it with your family encourages them to be part of the process – to grant you the time to exercise, to encourage you to do so. Sharing it publicly via social media provides more pressure and visibility – though if it’s a once-and-done statement, then everyone else will forget, and you surely will too. Make it part of your identity, and keep the pressure on yourself to work towards the goal. Write it into your Twitter profile, or Facebook description. Even if you fall short of your goal, your progress is likely to be far better than if you didn’t make such a visible commitment, and your friends will admire, and likely be inspired by, your efforts.
Did you fail to consider the above points? If so, it’s not too late for you. After all, you don’t have to wait until the next January 1 rolls around to make life-altering changes. You can start today, or whenever that urge gets strong enough. That’s the beauty of life – it doesn’t take a break.
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