If I hear that “New Year, New You” tagline one more time during the holidays, I am going to go crazy. By making a resolution for a whole year, you could be setting yourself up for failure because you have a lot of time to either make or break a resolution. I know there are a lot of people, including myself, who don’t have enough self discipline to make the resolutions last a whole year. Making a resolution and trying to hold yourself accountable for it for a whole year is overwhelming and will often times make you feel like a failure simply because you have a lot of time to either make the resolution work or to try and fail.
I totally understand what it is like to try and make New Year’s Resolutions. The first week is not that hard. But, by the second week,that chocolate donut at the office is looking really good, and, you are thinking “Well… it might not hurt if I eat this, even though it's not on my resolution’s list of food.” After this one slip up, it makes it very easy to slip up on other resolutions Prudy Gourguechon Senior Contributor at Forbes, says “New Year’s resolutions typically involve one of three wishes. The wish to stop avoiding something (getting rid of all the junk in your inbox). The wish to stop doing something that makes you feel good (eating, drinking, smoking). Or the wish to start doing something that doesn’t come naturally to you (journal, express gratitude, exercise).”
She is exactly right. It is so hard to give up things that you truly enjoy, like eating. It is also very hard to start things that you really don’t do, like writing in a journal. No wonder so many New Year’s Resolutions fail. We are trying to give up things that we really like and are trying to start to do things that we don’t do, and we are supposed to do this for a whole year? This takes an extra super amount of self discipline.
One way to make your New Year’s Resolution more doable is to split your resolutions into months. If your resolution is to lose weight, then split the number of pounds you would like to lose into months. Or, if your resolution is to save more money, have an amount that you can save monthly. This will make your resolution more achievable.
Unrealistic expectations is another reason many resolution’s fail. If your resolution is to lose weight, You might think to yourself, “well it’s been two weeks, and I haven’t lost the weight that I committed to lose on my resolution.” This can become very frustrating and can throw you back into your old eating patterns. What is misunderstood is that everyone’s body loses weight differently. Some people require that they be on a diet for a month before they lose any weight. Again, this can push you back into your old eating habits, therefore breaking your New Year’s Resolutions.
Wanting quick results is yet another reason resolutions’s fail. It is called a New Year’s Resolution for a reason. It can take at least a year to form new habits. You can’t put yourself on a budget for a month and expect to have a lot of money in the bank. The same can be said for a diet. You can’t go on a diet for a month and expect to lose all the weight you committed to losing on your resolution. Understand that any kind of change like saving money, losing weight, cleaning out your house, or reading more books takes time. This is why they are called “New Year’s Resolutions.” They take at least a year to accomplish. In this case, patience is a virtue.
Another reason New Year’s Resolutions don’t work is because you are dealing with habits and ways of thinking that you have had for years. You want to change all of these in a year? If you could change one of them in a year, this would be Awesome. But, to try to change all of them in a year … you might be setting yourself up for failure.
Resolutions are definitely not impossible. There are some large hurtles to achieving them. But, with a lot of self discipline they can be done.
If you are one of the few that can make it completely through a New Year’s Resolution, my hat is off to you, you are awesome.
