New Year's resolutions
„- I forgot to make a New Year's resolution! (...)
- If you want to make a difference, you can start right now!” (J.Norbury)
The new year represents the promise of a qualitatively different, „better” life, thus holding out the hope that we can become a more acceptable, successful, happier version of ourselves. For this reason, many people make resolutions that have been contemplated, postponed or made on the spur of the moment for a longer or shorter period of time, thus starting the process of achieving a desired goal.
However, research shows that roughly only 10% of people are able to persevere for more than a few months to achieve the goals and conditions they set for the new year. The reasons for failure are often complex, but in general, change is difficult because while it is relatively easy and often unnoticed to get stuck in bad habits, it is difficult to break unpleasant behaviours and change an ingrained habit or routine.
The most popular resolutions are usually about lifestyle changes, such as quitting an addiction, losing weight, exercising more, or spending more quality time with family. To make these successful and lasting changes, we should follow similar principles and methods.
It is worth setting realistic, achievable (yet challenging!) and realistic goals in New Year's resolutions to avoid failures due to unreality, and properly chosen goals help us to stay goal-oriented, focused and motivated.
The realistic goal we set for ourselves should be measurable if possible, i.e. objective - „I want to be successful” is a completely subjective thing, not really measurable. It is important to have the time and energy and the right methods to achieve it (e.g. if you want to lose weight, you should consult a dietician first). It is also worth setting positive goals - e.g. „I want to be inactive” rather than „I want to exercise three times a week”, and it is important to focus not only on the goal but also on the process of achieving it: breaking down the process of change into smaller steps, sub-goals and subtasks. Set deadlines by which you want to achieve each (sub)goal and give yourself continuous feedback on how the goals are progressing.
Setting goals and taking steps to achieve them, fighting for them, have positive psychological effects: they increase self-confidence, make us feel more positive about ourselves, and as a result, even reduce our anxiety, so even the decision to change and the first steps taken can have positive effects on our personality and our lives.
The beginning of the journey to a happier and more successful version of ourselves doesn't necessarily have to be limited to the start of a new year. We can change at any time! There are usually no quick fixes, change takes time and willpower: it's worth trying to think of the change itself, the journey to a goal, as a source of joy, not easy but rewarding.