by Dr. Don Wetmore
At the beginning of every year so many of us commit to change and worthy
goals to be accomplished in the next twelve months only to be
disappointed come next December 31 when we discover we are no closer to
achieving those resolutions than we were on January 1. So I looked at
this issue and created four useful suggestions to increase the
probability you will succeed with your New Year’s resolutions.
- Quantify your resolutions.
Sometimes we are just too vague about what we want.
Therefore, a resolution such as, “I want to lose weight this year” will
probably fail. It is too vague. How much weight? Be specific. What would
your ideal weight be, less what do you weigh now is what you are going
after.
- Set a deadline.
Resolutions that are to be achieved “as soon as
possible” wind up in the heap of “Someday I’ll”. Deadlines make
commitments. They put it on the line and define when failure occurs.
Deadlines also help us to break the resolution down into little
bite-sized pieces. For example, if your goal is to lose 25 pounds by
June 30, that translates into approximately 4 pounds per month, one
pound per week, or a daily reduction of caloric intake (or an increase
in daily caloric burn) of just 500 calories per day. Now that’s
manageable. 500 calories a day is easy to achieve. 25 pounds seems like
a leap across the Grand Canyon. Until we quantify our goal, set a
deadline, then break it down to its daily requirements, the resolution
will forever seem unattainable.
- Change one or two things at a time. We generally do not like change.
We seek the familiar and avoid the strange. The more change you put
yourself through, the higher the probability your campaign will
collapse. Focus in on one or two of the more important resolutions you
seek to accomplish this year. When you achieve one or the other, start
on the next one.
- Be realistic.
There’s just something about the start of a new year
that gets us all wound up for change, sometimes extraordinary and
unrealistic changes. We become much like the child in the candy store
whose eyes are bigger than his stomach. Be realistic. You can only
accomplish a certain amount within a period of time. Don’t saddle
yourself with unrealistic resolutions that will only spell failure later
on.
Published: December 26, 2001
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