Tips for Making and Keeping Resolutions
Making a New year's resolution is easy but keeping is another matter entirely. Each year thousands of people have good intentions about making positive personal changes to their lives and make a resolution for the coming year. There are a variety of resolutions that people make: lose weight, spend more time with the family, quit a bad habit, or develop a new skill. Whatever the resolution is, there is a desire to make some kind of change. The problem is that most people forget how difficult change can be. Without recognizing how difficult change is, it seldom happens. How do we make resolutions and then keep them?
Think the decision through
Resolutions just like any personal change requires some serious thought. One problem that may seem to have with resolutions is that they make them without thinking. A person once told me that they resolved to lose thirty pounds in the first thirty days of the year. Not only is this a highly unlikely goal to achieve it is also an unhealthy goal to attempt. The person clearly did not think about the resolution that they were making. A resolution is simply a decision that takes determination and will to accomplish. No matter how much will power or desire a person may have it is nearly impossible to lose thirty pounds in thirty days. It can be done but it is highly unlikely.
Create a List of Possible Resolutions
Before you make a resolution for the new year, make a list of all the possible changes that you want to make in your life. Then choose just one area to concentrate on. Think about what would need to happen for that resolution to become a reality and write a list of changes that would make the process work. Then write out some action steps that would assist in making that change real. Be as detailed as possible in writing out your personal plan.
Brake the Resolution Down
One thing that most people do not do is to take their resolution and brake into manageable goals. For example, if you had a goal to lose thirty pounds this year, you could brake that goal down to losing one pound per week for thirty weeks. The goal is more manageable and much more achievable. One large goal may seem insurmountable when looking at it as a whole. Breaking the goal down and making it more possible allows us to grasp the reality of the resolutions that we make. It also makes the resolutions easier to accomplish. The old saying is true: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Break down those larger goals into smaller ones that you can manage and accomplish.
Create Some Accountablity
The lack of accountability is a key reason why most resolutions fail. Accountability is simply having the support of other people to help hold you to your commitments. Sharing the resolutions that you make is a good thing to do but having someone to check on your progress is even better. When we have accountability the chance of successful change dramatically increases. When you choose a person to help hold you accountable, make the selection carefully. Do not choose someone who will be overbearing or overwhelming. Write out a list of questions that you want asked wither on a daily or weekly basis. Once accountability moves beyond this point
Remember making resolutions is a process that can assist us in making positive changes to our personal lives. Change does not come overnight and rarely happens without a lot of hard work. Approach your resolutions with drive and determination to make good decisions and create positive change.
