One good reason NOT to make a New Year’s resolution

So it’s that time of year again (Happy New Year and all that…) and the pressure is on to make ‘resolutions’ and become all round better people.  At the time of me writing this, I wonder how many resolutions have already been broken?  And therein lies the fatal flaw of this whole concept-there is a very high chance that making a resolution to ‘do something’ will result in us eventually not doing it, and hey presto, there it is- a big sense of failure.

So that was it- the ONE very good reason NOT to make a resolution.

If we want to stay motivated to achieve better things in 2015, my proposal is as follows- get rid of the RE and just focus on the SOLUTION. (Get it?)

The  one very  useful thing about the New Year is that it makes it easy for us to focus on a fresh start, on drawing a line in the sand and (just one more cliché now…..bear with me) turning over a new leaf. This in turn encourages us to think of all the positives changes we want to have happen in the future.

So here is my solution- instead of focussing on all the things we need to be doing, or need not to be doing, we should be focussing on our goals and aims and using those as the starting point.

Let me use this example to explain what I mean.  Last year I said to myself: ‘I’m going to stop drinking wine and I’m going to start running; I’m fed up of being the size I am so I’m going to make these changes and that will sort me out.’  By day 2 I’d had a glass of wine which of course meant that I was ‘rubbish’ and ‘useless’, and all I gained was a sense of hopelessness. I sulked a bit and then put the concept of New Year resolutions to the back of my mind. (It’s now 2015 and the most action my trainers have seen, is a brisk walk!)

This year instead of resolving to do this, that and the other, I have decided to identify my aims for 2015. One of those aims is to lose 18lbs so that I can feel totally comfortable and confident in a size 14 pair of jeans (they’ll be pretty loose if I lose 18lbs-bliss!). I am trying to visualise how amazing I’ll feel when I jump out of bed one morning and slip on those jeans. (Oh yes…..I’m visualising it now….ooh love it………….can’t wait to feel that way!)  The important thing is to be really specific and clear about what your goals for 2015 are; it then becomes easier to identify the actions you need to take to get there.

Do you see the difference?  Identifying my aim will of course mean that I’ll have to make some behaviour changes, but I can think about those each week and adapt them, and of course  I’ll learn as I go along.  If I do accidentally have an unplanned glass of wine at the weekend it doesn’t mean that I have failed to achieve my overall aim. So I therefore won’t be demotivated like I was last year.

Research shows that if we have a clear idea of what we are aiming for then we are 3 times more likely to achieve it.  So come on……what is your AIM for 2015?

Please share in the comments so that I can encourage you, by following up on your goals later on in the year.