Tips for Making Your New Year's Resolution Work!
by David Junno, Psy.D.

Many of us make New Year's resolutions... few of us keep them. In their article "If at First Your Don't Succeed", Polivy and Herman cite statistics that:

• 25% of New Year's resolutions will be abandoned in the first 15 weeks.
• The average number of times a New Year's resolution is made is 10.
• Those who manage to make a resolution that lasts for 6 months or longer have often tried 5 or 6 times before finally succeeding.
• Many New Year's resolutions are for health related goals.

Three most important elements of a good resolution: Goals, Goals, Goals!

Have appropriate expectations.
Setting the right goal is everything. Too often, we set our expectations too high. The result is it is harder to meet them. This in turn can lead to increased discouragement, which can lead to less motivation in the future. One area people often set unrealistic goals for is weight loss.

 

As Polivy and Herman point out, people either have too high expectations for how much they lose, or they expect too much from losing it. Genetics accounts for approximately 70% of weight problems. There is a limit to how much we can expect to lose. This doesn't mean we shouldn't try if it is in the interest of our health. What it does mean is we will be much more successful with more modest goals.

Just starting a program for healthier living can have results. According to the research of Roberts and Barnard, people can experience significant improvements in their health status after three weeks of making dietary changes, even before they see any weight loss.

There is also the issue of what we expect from weight loss. Many of us expect weight loss to result in success in relationships, work and improved health. Yes, having a better diet can improve health, even with modest weight loss. However, losing weight is no guarantee of success in other areas of life. If we tie all our hopes for a better life to something like weight loss, we set ourselves up for potential failure. It is unlikely we will achieve these rewards from weight loss alone. If we want to be more successful in relationships or work, we should make those separate goals.

Set a learning goal
Most of us who need to make changes in our lives to improve our health are not yet ready to make those changes. To make successful lifestyle changes requires knowledge, time and commitment. Leaping in to change before doing the necessary preparation is another recipe for failure. Rather than expecting ourselves to make a change right away, we can instead learn about what we need to do to make a successful change.

Set a goal to explore your need to make a health related change, get the facts, find out what action steps are necessary, realistically assess the potential obstacles in your life to making these changes. Use this information to develop your own plan. We tend to be much more successful following through on plans we make than ones others make for us.

Focus on what you are going to do
Too many health related changes feel like deprivations. We are going to give up foods we like, stop smoking, and/or stop drinking. It is hard to maintain motivation for not doing things. It is more rewarding focusing on what we are going to do.

For example, for a diet goal, think about what you can add to your life. If you need to reduce high fat foods, consider a goal of eating more lower fat foods. I have a goal of eating more fruit each day, so every time I want a snack I see it as an opportunity to have a fruit or some juice. I have also maintained a goal of eating an extra portion of vegetable with my dinner. This makes me feel more like I am doing something for myself rather than just taking something away.

For a goal like stopping smoking, consider doing more activity when normally you would be tempted to smoke. If you need to quit drinking consider setting a goal of spending more time with family or friends, or participation in non-drinking related activities.

Make this the year you get it right
Set appropritate expectations, learn what you need to be successful, focus on what you want to do, and have a great New Year!

References:

• Polivy, Janet, Herman, C. Peter."If at First You Don't Succeed." American Psychologist Sept. 2002: 677-689.
• Roberts, C. K., Vaziri, N. D., Barnard, R. J. "Effect of diet and exercise intervention on blood pressure, insulin, oxidative stress, and nitric oxide availability.." Circulation Nov. 12 2002: 2530-2532.

Dave Junno Psy.D. is a psychologist, coach and author of Lowering High Cholesterol and Reducing Your Risk of Heart Disease- READY OR NOT! To contact him, mail to: drjunno@drjunno.com or visit his website and sign-up for his free e-mail newsletter: Ready or Not.