New Year, New You! Revving Up Your Resolutions

New Year New YouIt’s the New Year. A time to celebrate. A time to visualize our future. A time to wish about our hopes and dreams. A time to sow the seeds of intention and resolve to use this new year as a chance to wipe the slate clean, turn to the next chapter of our life, grow and improve, and be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. 

Setting resolutions at the New Year is an old tradition for people in the Western hemisphere.  Resolutions are goals, intentions and new habits that we want to integrate to help us have a happy, healthy and prosperous life moving forward. Turning the calendar page and leaping forward into the New Year is the perfect time to reflect on the past and chart our course for the future. 

How many times have you heard yourself saying, “I am going to lose 10 lbs. this year” or “I’m going to exercise more this year.”  It’s almost as if our brains are hardwired to set lofty goals for ourselves during this time of winter hibernation.   

Armed with new goals on index cards or pasted to our bathroom mirror, we start off strong, determined that THIS time it will be different. We will nail our resolutions. And then about two weeks into our new habit we create a little speed bump: We oversleep and are running late, preventing us from eating breakfast; or our late afternoon work meeting lasted really late, stopping us from going to the gym. Simply put, life happens! And even the best of our intentions get derailed.  

Making resolutions at the beginning of a new year is a really good thing to do. Whats the magic bullet to keep your resolutions revved up and moving forward? I have a few suggestions: 

  1.  Limit the number of New Years resolutions to only one.  In this highly distracted, tech-driven and modern time it is really hard to focus and adding a bunch of goals will only set you up for failure. Instead, choose one area of your life that is your priority for the upcoming year and set one intention for making a solid and successful change.

  2. Give yourself a gold star. Do you remember how delicious it felt to receive a little gold star from your first grade teacher as a reward for doing something well? The feel of the gold foil and smell of the glue on the back of the star are etched into our memories forever and conjure up amazing feelings of success. Use this brain-based memory to reward yourself for executing your resolution every day. Resolutions are new habits and research tells us that it takes over 30 days of doing the same thing to create a new habit. Seeing your stickers or gold stars on a calendar as a measure of your progress will keep you focused and motivated.
  3. Get a support buddyScientists have discovered that we are much more likely to be successful with new habits when we have the support of others. Sharing your intentions with an accountability friend who will hold your feet to the fire or a group of people who can cheer you on across the finish line, exponentially increases your chances of keeping your resolutions and establishing new habits in your life.

With these simple tips, setting and keeping your new year’s resolutions will help you Lead Well, Live Well and Do Well on your path of success.   

© Rita Perea, 2018.  All rights reserved.  

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