Keeping New Year's Resolutions

January 2004 Newsletter:

Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions:
Ten Secrets to Success
by Karin Suesser, PhD, Psychologist

If you are like 45% of adult Americans, you probably started the new year with lots of plans to improve your life. However, most of us have also learned not to take our New Year's Resolutions too seriously since most of the time, we tend to not follow through on them, lose our motivation to change, or break our resolutions during the first two weeks of the year and get discouraged. It doesn't have to be that way. Let this be the year that you finally succeed in achieving your goals you have set for yourself. Following are ten suggestions that have been shown to significantly increase your changes of success when trying to change old habits and adopt new, healthier behaviors.

1. Make realistic resolutions. Many people try to do too much too quickly. For example, if you are not presently exercising but your resolution is to now exercise for 30 minutes every day, you may be setting yourself up for failure. It may be more realistic to resolve to walk more on a daily basis, even if it's just for 10 minutes. After that becomes a habit, then you can work on increasing your goal.

2. Make only one or two specific resolutions. You are more likely to be successful if you only work on one or two goals than if you are trying to change every bad habit at once. Also, be sure your goal is specific. Rather than saying, "I want to lose weight," try setting a specific goal of how many pounds you want to lose by which date. Again, be realistic about what you can accomplish.

3. Choose resolutions that you have been thinking about for some time. Research has found that people who thought about their resolutions for some time were more successful than those who came up with them at the last minute (like resolving to lose weight after overeating at the New Year's party).

4. Make a strong initial commitment to make the change. Commitment seems to be the key ingredient in reaching one's goals. Don't try to make changes if you still feel ambivalent or unsure about putting the necessary time and effort into your goal. Making a strong commitment includes being willing to make the required sacrifices in order to reach your goal; telling others about your goal and how you plan to accomplish it; setting a deadline; and doing one small thing today that gets you started instead of putting off the change until some later time. For example, if you resolved to exercise more this year, one small thing you could do today is to buy a pair of walking shoes, or get a gym membership.

5. Set a series of smaller goals. Divide your big goals into smaller steps. For example, if one of your resolutions was to save more money, plan a reasonable and specific amount to work toward in the first month, then a larger amount to have saved by April. These smaller goals will keep you encouraged as you make progress.

6. Keep track of your progress. People who write down their progress in some form tend to be more successful at reaching their goals. Tracking progress can be as simple as making check marks on your calendar each day you exercise, or writing down the number of cigarettes smoked each day if you are trying to cut back. Looking back over your record can provide encouragement to keep up the good work.

7. Learn from your mistakes. The number one reason why people don't stick to their resolutions is that they tend to give up when they slip, thinking that they failed. Instead, try to figure out what went wrong, and how you can avoid that problem next time, then try again.

8. Have coping strategies to deal with problems that will come up. Everyone trying to reach a major goal will encounter obstacles along the way. It's important to anticipate those obstacles and make a plan for dealing with them. For example, if you plan to walk every day, what will you do if it rains? Will you go anyway, or will you walk on the treadmill instead? If you resolve to drink less alcohol, what will you do in social situations where your friends and family members drink alcohol? Having a plan in advance makes it easier to stick to your goal.

9. Learn to control your environment. Figure out what kinds of things in your environment get in the way of sticking to your plan. Can you avoid certain situations, people, or places that make it harder for you to change? For example, if watching TV makes you too tired at night to exercise, can you avoid the TV until after you are done exercising? Another part of controlling your environment is the old trick of putting up reminders of your goal where you are likely to see them, such as the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator. Keeping your written goal in front of you at all times makes it easier to stick to it.

10. Seek support from others. People who are most successful at changing their habits don't try to do it alone. Tell your friends and family how they can best support you in your efforts. Find other people who have similar goals and who will encourage you to keep exercising, eat healthier, smoke less, relax more, etc.

Mental Health Resolution Ideas
(if you haven't made any yet…):

Praising your children and your spouse 6 times as much as you criticize them each day
Cutting your TV time in half
Reading a book just for fun
Letting other people know when you have kind thoughts about them
Deciding to be less bothered about one specific thing in your life
Focusing on what is good in every situation instead of finding fault
Getting enough sleep each night
Reducing stress instead of just "managing it"
Looking at mistakes as learning opportunities instead of failure

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