Making New Year’s resolutions work

A new year represents the start of a brand-new chapter in the book that is your life. However, even though so many individuals have lofty goals, over two thirds of our resolutions are generally abandoned within one month. I spoke to a few people about popular New Year’s resolutions and why so many of us fail to keep them.

Following excessive holiday eating, the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. While most people overindulge throughout the festive season, the idea remains that once the new year arrives, it is time to completely overhaul your life. “Our anticipation to lose weight quickly after the Christmas holidays is one of the reasons why most individuals fail to keep to a long-term nutritional plan, and before you know it, the summer season is approaching, and the plan to look slim in a water suit has been postponed yet again,” says clinical nutritionist Stephanie Agathangelou. “It is important to set realistic goals.”

Setting realistic goals, especially in the workplace, is critical, but one must understand that efforts will not be in vain if an unexpected obstacle arises. “Stay the course, and if the door at your current employer has closed, those new abilities will undoubtedly be valued by another employer,” human resources manager Andreas Christodoulou said. “Once you have achieved your objective, whatever it may be, it is essential that you do not quit the behaviour change or you will be back at square one.”

Many people spend too much time thinking and not enough time doing. Although we seek inspiration and knowledge from a variety of sources, if we can merely put one thing we learn from every book or article we read into practice, we will be well on our way to success.

Another factor that often leads to our failure is a lack of social support to keep us motivated. “You are more likely to make great decisions if you share your objective on social media or with friends,” IT specialist Natalie Andreou said. “It will benefit you to join a support group of like-minded people on social media or elsewhere on the internet. After all, strength is measured in numbers.”

Many New Year’s resolutions involve developing new habits or modifying old ones. If your objectives revolve around eating healthier, exercising more, drinking less, quitting smoking, texting less, spending more time ‘unplugged,’ or any number of other behaviours, we are talking about changing existing habits or creating new ones.

Habits, according to behavioural scientist Susan Weinschenk, are automatic, ‘conditioned’ responses, such as getting up in the morning and going to Starbucks for a pastry and a latte; getting home from work and sitting in front of the television.

“Contrary to popular belief, changing behaviours is not difficult if done scientifically. To change a habit, you must first develop one, thus whether you are changing an existing habit or forming a new one, the ‘scientific’ technique is the same.”

According to Weinschenk, we have established literally hundreds of habits, and we do not even recall how they came about, thus developing habits cannot be that difficult or we would not have so many of them.

The majority of those I polled thought that our environment has a greater impact than we may realise. Those around us do not want us to change since it means their world will change as well. “This can be difficult if you have decided to avoid sugar but your partner stockpiles cookies,” Agathangelou said. “This can be a difficult obstacle to overcome, but once you understand the impact your surroundings have on achieving your goals, you will be in a better position to devise a creative solution.”

Changing your self-story is the greatest – and some would argue the only – approach to achieve long-term behavioural change. “Everyone has a story about themselves that influences their actions. “You know who you are and what is essential to you,” Weinschenk said. “Essentially, you are always telling a ‘narrative’ about yourself. These self-stories have a significant impact on decisions and actions.”

If you want to change your behaviour and make the change stick, change the underlying self-story that is operating. Make your goals specific and measurable, focus on improving what you are already doing, make sure your goals are aligned with who you are, and celebrate the small victories.

Happy New Year!