Have you made new year’s resolutions for this year? You’re not alone! Some research suggests that as many as 40% of people make new year’s resolutions. However as research suggests by the University of Scranton, only 8% of people achieve them.
Why? you may wonder? It’s seems because we often make goals that are nearly impossible to achieve and then give up only after a couple of weeks, feeling defeated. For example, if one of your resolutions is to lose weight, say 50 lbs for the year, and within the first 4 weeks you’ve already eaten ice cream every other night of the week, then you may feel defeated so you just give up.
Don’t fret, it happens to all of us. Instead of giving up, some psychologists suggest to make more realistic goals and for shorter periods of time. So instead of making a resolution to lose 50 pounds in one year, instead try to lose 4 pounds in one month. If you splurge one day and have ice cream, don’t beat yourself up. Allow that to be your one “cheat day”. Then begin the next day again by making healthy eating choices.
You may have a birthday party to go to that month, so if you allow yourself to have a small piece of cake and some ice cream, you’ll feel like that is your reward for sticking to your resolution. When you make it through one month, and the scale shows that you are a few pounds lighter, then SUCCESS! It gets easier the second month to do the same thing.
The object is to NEVER GIVE UP. What if you have 3 “cheat days”. So what? No one is watching, You’re just not going to see the results that you may want at the end of the month. That may be enough incentive to curb the cheat days or make a healthier sweeter choice for the next one.
Another suggestion is to make a chart, or mark it on a calendar or get a dry erase board and mark your success on it. If it’s right in front of you on a daily basis, then you’ll be more likely to stick to it. Also by marking your success on a daily or weekly basis, you’ll be more apt to continue and improve upon the successes from the following day or week.
Of the 40% of people who make resolution, 46% of them actually follow through with them for the whole year. And according to John Norcross from the University of Scranton, that’s a much better percentage then the number of people who never make resolutions, because they have a 0 - 4% chance of reaching that same goal. That means, it’s better to have made a resolution and achieved some success, then never to have tried at all!
Marie Pietras, LMT
