Only a few short weeks ago the world celebrated the arrival of a New Year. For many people a New Year is the time to think about a new start, be it in just a small area of their life or a complete 180 to where they are.
Many make these resolutions, but unfortunately few are kept – they say research shows only about 9% are kept!
The thing is, it is very easy to make even a simple New Year’s resolution, like “start exercising”, but the execution of this is a little harder – you need a plan of how and when you are going to do that exercise because without a plan it will never happen. Plus, any resolution that you make needs at least three things:
- To be realistic – ok, I will go for a 10 minute walk from my house, 6 days a week, yes I can take one day off
- To be measurable – I will time when I start and finish to make sure I do 10 minutes, plus I will put a tick in my calendar for every day I walk so I can easily see it has been done
- Able to be made into a habit – yip, I can make a habit of this walking goal
Without these three things, lasting change from the New Year’s resolution will not happen.
Another way to help make a resolution “stick” is to make yourself accountable to someone or something else. Ask a buddy to check in on you everyday, or maybe get them to walk with you, or set a reward for every time you do your walk e.g. no walk, no coffee (for TPP no coffee would be like a major disaster so definitely an incentive to go for a walk!).
Your homework today is to ponder on the changes you had/have planned with the arrival of the New Year – did your plan include the three points above, are you making progress or have you given up already? If you didn’t make any, why not?
Ponder away!
