Judging from your tweets* over the past couple of weeks, many of you are recharging for the New Year by declaring your resolutions. So, we've been thinking about how to keep them.
Some of you have been chatting about increasing your efficiency and hitting those weight loss goals. One virtual worker made a cheeky plug for working from home by resolving to spend more time in her pajamas while growing her business. Others blankly refuse to make any resolutions because in the past they've broken them before the end of January.
Whether those resolutions were set-in-stone, life changers or fodder for a bit of fun, we've gathered a few tricks for helping you keep them.
Be specific
General aims set to general time frames are destined to lead you off your new path in a matter of days. These are resolutions along the lines of "Eat less sugar this year." The phrase "less sugar" is too open to interpretation and you may soon find yourself moving its definition until you're back to where you were to begin with. Rather, set a date in the next two months when you will review your sugar intake and plan what you will cut out each day to reach that goal. It may even be helpful to put off changing anything for the next week so you can keep a diary and work out what's a realistic goal at each stage.
Be realistic
This is brings us to the other area where resolution-makers tend to fall. Utterly transforming yourself in a year may be entirely realistic for those with personal trainers, chefs and life coaches but what about the rest of us mere mortals who have to go it alone? Even if we did have the extra help, an army of professionals cannot necessarily make the unrealistic become attainable. Instead, it's all down to you to be realistic and inspire yourself to stick with it. Psychologist Dr Susan Rudnicki says: "What you have to do is start restructuring those thoughts, say 'Ok, so we didn’t do what we wanted in the last few weeks. Let's start fresh. Today's a new day. You can do this.' Be very inspirational to yourself, have positive self talk."
Make it fun
One of the top reasons given for not keeping resolutions is that they involve doing things that we don't naturally want to do. By finding fun ways to incorporate changes into your daily schedule, you might just trick yourself into enjoying waking up an hour earlier each day.
For those who play hard on the internet anyway, social media news website Mashable.com suggests using apps and platforms to stick to your resolutions. For physical health the site suggests focusing your geo-location logins whether on Facebook Places or Foursquare to help keep track of what you're eating and how much exercise you're getting. If you're interested in getting internet-reputation fit, it mentions apps that can help you blog more by making it easier to blog on the go.
Walk on
A new habit takes around a week to form and it requires constant attention if it is to be maintained. Since so many of us are neither specific nor realistic with our resolutions and view them as a form of penance, it's no surprise that when we slip up by losing track of time or sneaking a biscuit, we allow the entire plan to fall by the wayside.
It's often a matter of procrastination. "I'll start again tomorrow" we think but then become discouraged because it's no longer the New Year and this was meant to be a New Year's resolution. This is where it may help to remind yourself continually that this is a change you are making for your life not just for the time of year. Backtracks are simply an inevitable part of the process. There's no need to start again. Brush those crumbs off and carry on, committed to gradual and sustainable change.
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