Making New Year’s Resolutions work Published Jan. 24, 2011 By By Scott Riley 17th Force Support Squadron GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas-- -- Are New Year's resolutions a serious endeavor or just a fun New Year ritual that we don't really expect results? People who really want to change, quit, or start something are really serious and want to make the behavior modification, but people also end up ignoring their resolve and drift back into comfortable habits. Instead of reaping the rewards of success, they feel frustrated and guilty. Here are some ideas to help you stick to your resolution. - Look forward and see your resolutions as a result. View them as things you want to create rather than just problems you have to find solutions for. Don't think about the 20 pounds you want to get rid of, think about the lean, fit, healthy body you want. It's kind of like the old mind disassociation game; you have to practice at this. Focusing on the problem aspect of your resolution, i.e., what you don't like and don't want - depresses you, it decreases energy and makes it hard to follow through, however, creating and doing is more positive and gives you energy. When you keep thinking about the change like it's already won and all the good things that you will derive it's not a problem to conquer any longer. - Don't dwell on other people who have made the same resolution and compare their results to yours be it successful or unsuccessful. Accept that your ordinary self is good enough. You don't have to be anyone other than who you are to create what really matters to you. Having failed in the past doesn't say a thing about who you are other than you just haven't practiced enough yet. Accept previous failures as life lessons learned and start training your mind to focus on the rewards of success. - Take baby steps and be prepared to adjust. Many of us are closet perfectionists. So when we put a plan together is has to be just right, but if it doesn't go the way we designed it, many start getting discouraged and the resolution goes by the way side. Sometimes, fear of failing prevents us from starting in the first place. The key is to take action, do something, get started with small steps. This first action will probably give you a lot of motivation and give you the inertia you need. Be prepared to adjust along the way if you're not getting the results you want. If you fail in this creating stage, just look at the failure as feedback. - Hopefully you've developed a clear picture of what success looks like to you. If you're not sure where to start work backward from that vision to the first steps. You might ask yourself "Can I do this today?" If you can't do that, then ask "What should I do first"? If your resolution is to be able to run a marathon in eight months, you're not going to get your aerobic base by starting with 10 miles every day; you may have to just walk around the block a couple of times at first. Taking these first steps creates your pattern of success and helps you stretch for larger steps. - Keep the momentum going. If you get stuck, angry or frustrated because things aren't going as planned, move on. Take whatever next step occurs to you. It doesn't matter what you do, just do something, like rocking a car backward to generate momentum before pushing it out of a ditch. Shift your focus from trying to solve a problem to creativity. - Practice. Practice. Practice. Don't say "I'll never be able to do this." Say, "I can't do this yet." Check your results against your specific goal to see if it matches your vision of success. If it doesn't, keep working at it; if it does, you're done.
