Happy New Year! May we all have more common sense in 2022, more love and respect and less fear, frustration and anxiety.
What are your 2022 resolutions? Eat healthier? Manage your finances better? Quit smoking? Nearly half of the people in the world make New Year’s resolutions. And this is quite natural – every passing year is a page to turn and we challenge ourselves to set for a better beginning. However, as experience shows, it is terribly difficult to keep such promises.
Resolutions Statistics
Usually our enthusiasm lasts for the first two weeks of January. By then we easily cope with the newly set tasks. However, statistics show that half of the people who made New Year’s resolutions fail to keep them by February. And what’s left for the rest of the year? Then, in most cases, we do even worse than before we made the promises. Why is this happening? Is there a way to be more effective in trying to get rid of bad habits and build better ones?
Be realistic
One of the most common reasons why New Year’s resolutions fail is that the goals we set are eihter unrealistic or inconsistent with our perceptions of ourselves. Take, for instance, a man who weighs 140 kg. His resolution is likely to sound like “Next year I will lose 30 kg” or “Next year I will get thin”. As you may have guessed, such a strategy is doomed to failure. Why? Healthy weight loss consists of losing a kilo every two weeks, which makes two kilos a month. Thus, for one year it is impossible to achieve permanent weight loss of more than 24 kg. This makes the goal unrealistic and leads to inevitable disappointment. It would be much more effective to promise “Next year I will lose two kilograms a month.” In this way, the goal is feasible and the person will be able to periodically report on the results achieved. Thus they also nurture their motivation. In addition, someone who has been overweight for a long time cannot perceive themselves as thin. Here is the problem with the resolution “Next year I will be thin” – the lack of inner conviction in something that contradicts the self-image makes the resolution impossible.
Take small steps to a big change
Another common reason we fail to keep our New Year’s resolutions is our unrealistic expectations. We often think that if we eat healthily, pay off all our debts or achieve another desired result, our lives will change. We look for causal links where there are none. And when we see that our situation remains unchanged despite the positive results, we become discouraged and return to our previous bad habits. A young, emotionally unstable woman who has difficulty building an intimate relationship thinks that her problem with men comes from being overweight. When she manages to lose weight permanently, her personal life does not change for the better. This, of course, discourages her and she stops keeping a healthy diet. She then quickly regains her excessive kilos.
Steps to success in 2022
So, if you have already set goals for 2022 and you do not want to disappoint yourself, the first step is to choose only one goal for the year, the one that is most important to you. Then carefully review it and evaluate:
- Is the goal I have set specific, can I measure it and what are the deadlines in which I have to fulfill it?
- What are the steps that will lead me to my goal?
- Is there anyone close to me, who could regularly check if I was carrying out my plan?
- How will I reward myself for every step I take toward my goal?
- What can I do right now, in the current moment, to get closer to achieving my goal?
Once you have decided to engage in self-improvement, treat each new day as a new year – set goals, pursue your dreams and become better than yesterday in everything you do. We wish you unceasing motivation during the new year! Good luck!
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