How many New Year’s diets have ended in chocolatey tragedy? Around this time every year, countless Americans discover their inner philanthropist and begin donating monthly sums to gyms they will never visit. What happens to all that gung-ho January energy?
New Year’s resolutions can be difficult to follow, and that is no secret. Any major lifestyle change or new habit is going to challenge a person’s resolve. However, there are some realistic strategies to go about these resolutions so that they do not result with a half-learned hobby or a measly savings account. Here are four ways to make those goals reality — yes, for real this time — in 2022.
1. Small, realistic goals > grand plans
Modest goals might sound lame in comparison, but they have a very important thing going for them — they are realistic. For example, if someone’s plan for the new year is to look like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, remember that Arnie’s pecs, like Rome, were not built in a day.
Keep the muscle bod on the backburner as a kind of ultimate goal. In the meantime, take smaller, more realistic steps like taking up a fun active hobby, like boxing or Pilates. Ease into the gym with 45- or even 30-minute workouts before trying to lift weights for two hours. Get acclimated to the resolution – the body and mind need time to adjust. There is nothing wrong with going from 0 to 20 instead of 0 to 60.
2. Don’t go hard (but don’t go home either)
Go hard or go home? More like, go less than hard sometimes, as needed, and congratulate yourself on the effort. This latter saying does not exactly flow off the tongue, but it is a powerful key to consistency. Consistency may be the single most important factor in making a resolution stick for the long haul. Consider the following:
100% effort / every day / completed over a few weeks
vs.
50% effort / every other day / completed over an entire year
There is no question which method will lead to lasting results. Going hardcore for just a few weeks ultimately leads nowhere. Conversely, smaller investments, with less frequency, over a longer period of time, accumulate into fulfilled resolutions.
3. Manifest resolutions into accessible reminders
It can be all too easy to explain resolutions away and allow old habits to creep back in. Often, bad habits instantly gratify — they cloud the future and emphasize the now. Prepare for this by formulating tangible reminders for when the going gets tough.
A visible list of straightforward pros and cons can be a powerful weapon against creeping doubt when resolutions start to waver. Writing down not just the resolution, but the reasons to accomplish it, and keeping that note in a visible place will be motivational reminders to keep pushing on.
4. Avoid triggers, dodge the soothing cycle, and reframe failure
Kicking off the new year with a resolution is not totally unlike breaking an addiction. This is an attempt to reconfigure the brain’s software, unprogramming the old ways and installing the new.
Make a list of triggers or circumstances that tend to initiate that bad habit. If mindlessly browsing Amazon tends to lead to overspending, that is a trigger. If going out to eat with a generous parent leads to overeating, that too is a tasty trigger. One of the most powerful triggers for any bad habit is actually the guilt of having indulged the bad habit itself.
For example, violating a new year’s resolution to eat fewer sweets by eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s causes anguish, which can in turn be temporarily remedied with another pint. This cycle of self-soothing can quickly spiral out of control until there is no longer so much as a sample-sized cup of “Cherry Garcia” at the local grocery store. The trick is not to view the initial violation as a true failure. If that healthy eating commitment is going strong for two weeks before a Ben & Jerry’s incident, those two weeks are still a win. It is not failure but a stumbling block on a greater journey.
Written by Drew Mortier
