New Year’s Resolutions – More Trouble Than They Are Worth?
January 2, 2009 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Easy Health Tips, Exposed!, Happy Living Tip, Health, How To
So, have you made your New Year’s resolutions yet?
You know, the ‘I’m going to lose weight, stop smoking, go to the gym, eat healthier, be nicer, get richer, etc, etc, etc’ type of resolutions.
If you have, good luck. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
And if you haven’t, my advice is ‘don’t bother’.
Did you know that most people who make New Year’s resolutions fail dismally within the first month or two of the new year?
A UK study of 3,000 people found that in the end, only about 400 managed to stay on track and achieve their resolutions.
That’s pretty grim statistics.
Why so bad?
Well, according to all the ‘experts’, it’s mostly because we…
- have too many resolutions
- the resolutions are too vague
- don’t plan ahead on how we are going to manage the resolution
- don’t set achievable goals
- aim for giant leaps rather than baby steps
In other words, we handicap ourselves from the get go.
So what to do if you feel the need to make New Year’s resolutions?
Well, Dr. Pamela Dodd, co-author of The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques: How to Get More Done Without Driving Yourself Crazy, suggests that you can increase the success rate of your New Year’s Resolutions if you do the following:
- Prioritize what you want to accomplish. It’s impossible to accomplish everything. If your list is too long you won’t accomplish any of it. Pick your top 1-3 goals and focus on those. Not only will those have a better chance of getting done, but once you’re on your way to accomplishing them, you can then move on to other goals on your list.
- Reduce information overload. When you have too much information coming in, your brain can’t handle it. You end up accomplishing little and wasting time managing it all. The antidote is to unsubscribe, toss out, pare down, and be very selective about the information you do allow to reach you.
- Learn to say no. Too many people say yes to everyone and end up with little or no time left to do what’s important to them. If you say no, you’re telling yourself and others what’s important to you. Not so oddly, that’s what you’ll end up getting done and getting done well.
By the way, stop by tomorrow to find out what my New Year’s resolutions are…
I’ve resolved to declutter one item per day.
It can be binned, recycled, sent to charity shop, or sold. But one item must go everyday.
I do have tons of junk so it’s not a major problem!
I have actually made some serious resolutions for the first time ever and written them in cyberspace for all to see.
Time will tell if I keep them.
Diane, what a great idea. Decluttering is a major need in my house at the moment. If only there was more time. ‘One item a day’ might just be managable…good luck
James, like that you’ve narrowed your resolutions down to 5 which makes it so much more managable that some lists (of over 100 resolutions) that I’ve seen. Good luck with narrowing down the magazine focus – like you, I find that it’s so easy to get lost in all the fascinating facts and end up flying here, there, and everywhere with my ideas and thoughts.
Happy New Year