4 ways you’ve never heard of to make your resolutions this year Laaaast
Don’t let your noble intentions this year, join the statistic of 80% of people who have dropped their pledges by the middle of February. From the many promises I’ve made to myself, I have found that the following 4 ideas, have really helped me keep the ones I’ve kept.
#1 Cut your personal resolution into half. You heard me right. Keep to only half of it. If I really had my way, I would tell you to keep only a quarter of it but I’m afraid you wouldn’t listen to me. If you pledged to exercise 30 minutes a day, knock it down to 15. It’s not the exercise that will make you lose weight, rather the tangible confidence of your ability to consistently love yourself that will carry the day. When you add the time factor to this, you then have the compound affect, which will exponentially increase your gains (or your losses, in this case).
#2 If you miss a day or two, fuhgedaboutit!
Research from Psychologists point to new habits learned in about 65 days, even when a few days are missed here or there. Don’t focus on missing today, look forward to doing it tomorrow. Contrary to popular western belief, it’s not all or nothing. It’s not Arnold Schwarzenegger or… well... you know where I’m going with this.
#3 Do not resolve to do it for a whole year. I now feel confident enough to tell you to cut the time you allocated for your resolution into a quarter of the original. When that time comes, you can then re-evaluate. Every goal must be a fine line between the ideal and the practical. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
#4 Don’t make your resolution a Don’t. Do make it a Do. Always remember, what you focus on has a tendency to increase. If you focus on losing weight, you are more likely causing it to increase (I guess by now you see where my mind is). If you focus on using your weight, such as turning it into muscle, well you may have some hope!
If you try to get out of credit card debt, you boomerang right back into it. If you save towards a goal...now we’re talking!
If you follow these guidelines, I reckon your resolutions will be longer term lasting than the other 80% of the population.