A Guaranteed Strategy for Making This Year’s Resolution Stick

Jan 17
17:26

2007

Elizabeth Gordon

Elizabeth Gordon

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Why is it that our resolutions seldom make it into February?

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Every year millions of people make New Year’s Resolutions on January 1st. By the 15th they are already finding themselves snacking on chocolate between meals,A Guaranteed Strategy for Making This Year’s Resolution Stick Articles not making time to exercise for the fourth day in a row and they still haven’t found the time to organize their finances. Why is it that our resolutions seldom make it into February? 

This year I want you to try something new where your resolutions are concerned. Recommit to them every month. Rather than making a resolution for the entire year and then forgetting about it, revisit it again each and every month. This way even if you fall off the wagon in January you’ve got another opportunity to resolve it all over again in February. Making resolutions and seeing results from them are an important way to make your life flourish. Goal setting at the beginning of the year enables you to keep your life and your career moving forward. 

There are several ways to make sure you stick to your resolutions. The first is to take the time to write them down. Saying you are going to do something is easy. Talk is cheap, especially if you have a glass of expensive champagne in one hand. Committing to resolutions by writing them down is an important step to solidifying them in your mind.

Next write down why you are making the resolution. Are you resolving to get your finances in order because you want to buy a house? Are you resolving to exercise and eat right because you want to make sure that you live a long and healthy life and can play with your grandchildren when you are 90? Or is it that you want to be able to walk down the beach in a string bikini and feel fabulous? What ever your motivations are, they are what makes this resolution important to you. You’ll find that if you can get enough why’s behind your resolution, the how’s will come naturally and easily.

Third, make sure that your resolutions are reasonable. You will not loose 20 pounds in two weeks or be able to run 15 miles your first time off the couch. You do have enormous potential within you, but in order to fulfill it, you need to take it one step at a time. Be reasonable and commit to each day doing just to a little better than you did the day before. So, make them realistic given the person you are today and the person you think it is really possible for you to become. 

Keep your list short and specific. On the top of the paper write, I resolve in January of 2007 to:  -, then sign your list at the bottom. This will be like making a contract with yourself. Then hang your list up where you will see it everyday such as; next to your calendar, on your refrigerator or on the bulletin board in your home office. On February 1, take it down, get out a fresh sheet of paper and write, In February 2007 I resolve to: -, rewrite your list, sign it and hang it back up. Resolving to do something for the rest of the year is intimidating, but deciding to do it for 1 day or for 30 days is a resolution anyone can handle. I know you can. A reporter once asked Oprah how she runs 5 miles a day. Oprah responded, “I recommit to it everyday.” Seeing your resolutions spelled out with your signature below them will strengthen your commitment to them everyday. 

I hope you have a happy and healthy 2007, that you stick to your resolutions and that your life is always flourishing!