10 Things to look out for when making a New Year Resolution (or any resolution for that matter…)

Imagine it is the last day of the year or month. Or you just got out of a bad relationship. You’re about to step into a new year, or a new month or a new chapter of your life, and you decided to mark this momentous part of your life/ year with a resolution. You took out a pen and a note book, or an iPad or any smart phone and you began to crazily scribble or type your list of to-dos for that very new chapter of your life.

6 weeks into the making of a brand new you, you find that nothing has really changed. You lost any impetus or reasons to stick to that mentioned list of to-dos in your life, as you crumpled that same list you wrote on the paper or you pressed the delete button on the document on your phone, iPad or laptop. What actually went wrong? Or has it become pointless to have a resolution anymore, given the fast paced life we have now?

According to Kristie Hedges in her article for Forbes Magazine, titled “Why Your New Year's Resolution Will Fail by February 1”:
We fail because we always expected to. We live up (or in this case down) to our own expectations. Then we can pull out all of our familiar excuses of being too busy, overwhelmed, or inadequate to face the challenge. It also plays into the cynical zeitgeist which supports the gravitational pull of the status quo.

She then continued to mention that “I would argue our problem isn’t that we shouldn’t think big, but that we consider ourselves too small of a player in the quest for our own goals. We set all-or-nothing New Year’s resolutions that we can’t possibly keep, and frankly don’t expect ourselves to. Most resolutions are general, vague, and unrealistic. We don’t really believe we can hit them because we’re not committed to our own locus of control.”

And with that in mind, ladies and gentlemen, I shall now reveal the 10 things to look out for when making a new year resolution.

1. Be Realistic
The surest way to fall short of your goal is to make your goal unattainable. For instance, resolving to never eat your favorite food again because it causes you to put on weight, could be a bad choice for a New Year's resolution. A better resolution will be to cut down the number of times you eat your favourite food as opposed to avoiding it completely.

2. Plan Ahead
Don't make your resolution on the eve of the start of the New Chapter of your life . If you wait until the last minute, your decisions will be based on your mindset on that particular day. Instead, it should be planned well ahead. Ensure that you mull over it for at least 30 days.


3. Make a "Pro" and "Con" List of not sticking to your resolutions
It may help to see a list of items on paper to keep your motivation strong. Develop this list over time, and ask others to contribute to it. Keep your list with you and refer to it when you need help keeping your resolve.

4. Talk About It
Don't keep your resolution a secret. Tell friends and family members who will be there to support your resolve to change yourself for the better or improve your health. The best case scenario is to find yourself a buddy who shares your resolution and motivate each other.

5. Reward Yourself
This doesn't mean that you can eat an entire box of chocolates if your resolution is to diet. Instead, celebrate your success by treating yourself to something that you enjoy that does not contradict your resolution. If you've been sticking to your promise to eat better, for example, perhaps your reward could be going to a movie with a friend.

6. Track Your Progress
Keep track of each small success you make toward reaching your larger goal. Short-term goals are easier to keep, and small accomplishments will help keep you motivated. Instead of focusing on losing 30 pounds, say, focus on losing that first 5. Keeping afood diary or a symptom journal may help you stay on track.

7. Don't Beat Yourself Up
Obsessing over the occasional slip won't help you achieve your goal. It will only encourage you to drop the resolution. Do the best you can each day, and take each day one at a time.

8. Stick To It
Experts say it takes about 21 days for a new activity, such as exercising, to become a habit, and 6 months for it to become part of your personality. Your new healthful habits will become second-nature in no time.

9. Don’t make a resolution, make a SMART resolution!

->S = Specific
The more specific the goal, the more likely it will be achieved.
EG: Instead of telling yourself “I’ll do some Maths tonight”, try this - “I’ll do 3 problems on page 48 of Maths tonight.
It’s easy to put off something that is vague.

-> M = Measurable
This helps you to keep track of your progress (monitoring)
So use numbers. For example, “I will do 3 Math problems this evening.” If you only did 2, you didn’t reach your goal.

-> A = Achievable
It is important that your goals are realistic and achievable, given limited time.

-> R = Resourced
• Resourced to imagination!
• Rewarded thru imagination!

In order to achieve your goals you need the correct resources.
Eg. No use in going to study without your study materials!
Make sure you have the correct resources for your study time.

-> T = Time-Based
(linked to TIME MANAGEMENT)
All goals need to be achieved within a particular time.
EG: “I will complete my Art project on the 18th March.”
EG: “I will take 2 weeks from 1st March 2009 to 14th March to complete my Science project”.

10. Be Flexible and Improvise!
After trying so many ways of achieving your goals, and you still have not managed to achieve it, then it’s time to re-evaluate and improvise. For example, if your resolution was to read 30 books by the end of the year, ask yourself, what is the underlying goal that you’re trying to achieve? If your underlying objective or goal is to improve in your vocab, then maybe you should re-evaluate that particular resolution of reading 30 books in a year and improvise it into something else like listening to Mariah Carey’s songs more often. Mariah Carey is an awesome singer who uses good vocab in her songs. I particularly learnt words like incessantly, omnipotent and solitude just from listening to her songs.