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Happy New Year! ‘Tis the season for millions of people to set themselves
up to fail, making promises to themselves they almost always break. I’m
talking, of course, about the dreaded new Year’s Resolution.
Every year people resolve to make a change for the better, go gangbusters
for a couple weeks, and then fall off the wagon, bouncing right back to where
they started.
If you want to avoid that scenario this year, here are four ways to steer clear
of New Year’s resolution bounceback.
Don’t make any New Year’s Resolutions
I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never made one. Not because I
don’t have any changes I need to make (believe me, I have plenty!), but
because they’re usually such ineffective drivers of change.
Few substantial, lasting changes come with the flip of a switch. Real change
tends to be more of an organic movement in the right direction. So why not
try something different? Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, define your
desired “change zones.”
Your change zones are the areas you want to improve (your fitness, for
example, or your happiness with your career). Once you identify those,
map out steps you can take, and track your action in that change zone over
time. Rather than something you make happen all at once, make it a focus
throughout the year – a theme, if you will.
Don’t make change all or nothing
The tendency to make our intended change an all-or-nothing affair is a huge
reason New Year’s Resolutions don’t work. We expect ourselves to make
wholesale change, and when we don’t, we label it a failure.
Instead, accept the ebb and flow of the change process. Rather than a rigid
approach, commit to taking more steps forward than you take back. Positive
change comes from the net outcome (the steps forward minus the steps
back).
Keep your backsliding in perspective
Your “steps back” are just that – steps back. They don’t mean you’re an
infinite loser, and they don’t mean you don’t have what it takes to change,
and they don’t mean you-suck-there’s-no-point-why-bother. They mean that
you slipped off track momentarily, nothing more, nothing less.
Instead of feeding the fire of self-criticism, acknowledge the slip, see if
there’s anything you can learn from it that would help you avoid it in the
future, and get back on the path.
Make many bite-sized resolutions
Instead of one big resolution for the new year, why not try breaking it down
into 52 New Week’s Resolutions? Start each week off with a small,
achievable resolution that will lead you towards the positive change you
desire. (See more about that idea here.) This works well together with the
“change zone” concept I mentioned above.
As a parting thought, resist the urge to think that the new year is somehow
going to be magically different than the old one. It’s not. It’s the same career,
the same life, and the same you. Instead, look at the new year as an
opportunity to take stock of where you have been, where you are, where you
want to go, and what next steps will help you get there.
Real change in the new year comes one day at a time, and you have 365
opportunities to make it happen.
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