It’s that time of year. People are making and breaking New Year’s
resolutions in equal abundance. So many
more new year’s resolutions fail than succeed.
Why is this so? Should we just
ditch these resolutions altogether or is there a way to change our attitude
towards them? I'm offering a free workshop Mindful New
Year’s Resolutions worth keeping this Thursday 8th 6-7:30pm at
the Psychological Society of Ireland Headquarters, 2nd floor
Grantham House, Grantham Street, Dublin 2.
Pre-booking is essential by e-mailing info@actnowireland.com or calling
01-4433307 and limited to the first 60 registrants. You can also find ACT Now Ireland on Facebook
or on their website www.actnowireland.com
Tips
for how to make New Year’s Resolutions worth keeping
1.
Connect to why you want to make this resolution. If it’s just because you
think you “should”, “have to”, or “must”- this is rarely enough. In fact, let’s put this to the test- imagine
yourself doing something that you naturally enjoy doing and now imagine that
you have to do that exact same thing.
Notice what happens in your body and if you feel more or less inclined
to do this exact same thing- something you previously enjoyed. In my experience, about 90% of people have an
adverse bodily reaction and feel far less inclined to do the thing they now
feel is compulsory to do. If you notice
yourself saying “should” and “have to”- see if you can connect to the reason to
do this beneath the “should” and “have to”.
For example with a fitness goal- connecting to the underlying benefits
you would like to enjoy- more energy, increased life expectancy, better overall
physical and mental health. Write down
these bigger reasons and review them often.
If you cannot connect to a bigger reason that feels vital to you- I
would suggest letting go of this resolution now.
2.
Acknowledge that it's human to make mistakes. The only thing I can
guarantee with absolute certainty to every single person who makes a new year’s
resolution is that we will all go off course.
That is part of our human nature.
The key thing here is how we relate to ourselves after we make these
mistakes. Do we continue to berate
ourselves? Do we use this lapse as a
means of falling off the wagon completely?
Or do we acknowledge that this happens everyone, learn from our lapse,
and get back on track.
3.
Hold yourself accountable. If this really matters to you, tell someone
you know and trust who will keep your best interests at heart. Of course, you don’t go telling the person
who gives everyone a hard time when they are trying to make a change in their
life. Here’s the thing- be very clear to
the person in terms of what you want from them in terms of support. We all need different levels of support- some
people like an occasional text message, some would appreciate a quick call more
often. Be very clear about what it is
that you want from your ally and what you would like them to do if, and when,
you go off track.
4.
Make a recording of why this is important to you. At this point it is
abundantly clear that you will go off track.
We all will. If this is something
that is truly important to you, make a voice recording no more than 3-5 minutes
long explaining why this resolution is important to you. The more you can connect to this at a
feelings level- the more likely you are to come back on track. It is even better if you can foresee the
obstacles that might get in your way and coach yourself through these. It can be good to share this recording with
your ally.
5.
Take one to three minutes daily to reconnect to why this matters. Unfortunately, it is not
enough to connect to why it’s important to make this change once. You need to reconnect to why it’s important
often. It is better to spend 1-3 minutes
daily connecting to why this is important than to spend a day once a
month. Some people connect to why this
resolution is important through a mindful meditation, others journal while
others express themselves creatively.
How is not as important as taking the time to make this a priority in
your life.
6.
Acknowledge that unwanted emotions will arise. If it was a piece of cake to
make this change, chances are you would have made the change already. The reality is that it is tough to make
changes. Especially to well-established
routines. You will have all kinds of
unwanted emotions and feelings arise.
It’s important to remember that this is par for the course for
everyone. You don’t need to like, love
or want how you’re feeling. You simply
require a willingness to have these feelings if they are bringing you closer
towards your resolution.
7.
Acknowledge toward and away moves, rather than right/good and
wrong/bad.
It is all too common to label ourselves as good/doing it right when we
are acting in ways that represent how we went to be in the world. And conversely we label ourselves as
bad/doing it wrong when we are in acting in ways that we are not proud of. Instead, see if you can identify what it is
that you want to move toward, for example a healthier lifestyle, and then
whenever you engage in any action, no matter how small, toward that, you can
acknowledge that as a toward move. And
whenever you engage in any action that brings you further away from your goal,
you can acknowledge this as an away move rather that a bad move, or labelling
yourself as doing it wrong. This is a
much healthier way of looking at things and can get you back on trap much
quicker.
8.
Check in with your older, wiser, more compassionate self. Before embarking in any
meaningful change, it is useful to connect in with your older wiser self. Have you ever had the experience of looking
back at your life 5/10 years ago and very clearly seeing what it is that you
could have done differently.
Retrospective thinking really is 20:20 vision. You can imagine connecting to your older,
wiser, more compassionate self for some guidance- from their experienced
perspective- what might they recommend that you do differently? They are not there to judge or ridicule but rather
to help you move toward where it is that you want to go.