New BeginningsIt is now February of 2008 and many of us may have started and already finished our New Year’s Resolutions. Unfortunately, many of us may have chosen to return back to those behaviors that are comfortable. At this point you may be tired of avoiding others when they ask questions about your progress. Yet, the question remains what happened after I made my New Year’s Resolutions? As I result, I would like to offer some practical suggestions as to how to approach and keep your commitments and to challenge you to think differently by renaming them as New Beginnings.According to the dictionary a New Year’s Resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or habit which often accompanies a lifestyle change that is generally viewed as advantageous to the individual. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year’s Day and remain until the set goal has been achieved. Similarly, a New Beginning is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or habit that accompanies a lifestyle change as well, but there is not a designated time period in which to start it. Most people who want a New Beginning begin by looking at where they are in life, where they want to be and where others around them are at in terms of success, wealth and fitness. Consequently, people then become compelled to set goals to get where they want to be and ultimately desire to become improved as individuals. In an effort to avoid potential pitfalls there are five points that I’d like people to consider when they make or evaluate their New Beginnings. First, we have to be realistic with our goal setting. Setting too many goals initially can be overwhelming and will quickly lead to burnout. According to Joel Schwarz about 67% of people make 3 or 4 resolutions each year. Yet we know that most people make more resolutions to start a new habit than to break an old one and often don’t plan how they are going to deal with the temptation to revert to their old behaviors. Second, in order to devise a sensible plan we may need to make a “pro” and “con” list to evaluate our goals. Most research indicates that by simply writing out our plan we are more likely to follow through with it. Third, we need to share our plan with others. Keeping it a secret will drastically decrease your success. In order to stay on task we need to have someone to be accountable to that may share our vision or at least call us out on it. Fourth, we need to include some positive reinforcement for our efforts. It may help to set up small timetables in days or weeks and reward ourselves immediately after achieving our goals. However, don’t celebrate your success by contradicting your goal. Lastly, we need to come up with a way to track our progress. For instance people can develop a food diary, thought journal or something to log their behavior to help them stay on track. That way you can look at particular patterns that are developing and assess what days or events make it more difficult for you to stick to your goals. It is important to remember that you may not have instant success. That is why it is essential to develop your own plan and not try to mold yourself into another person’s plan. Most research indicates that it takes approximately 3 weeks to form a new habit and 6 months for it to become a part of your personality. Therefore, we have to give ourselves ample time to allow our plans to work and if we happen to slip up not to scrap the goal in its entirety. Remember you can start over again, which is why they are called New Beginnings and not New Year’s Resolutions because you can commit to them at any time of the year! |
