Achieving New Year’s Resolutions in 2022
A
new year for many of us means it’s time to make a resolution but sticking with
them can be difficult or challenge. In 2018, a study found only 6 percent of
people fully stuck to their resolutions.
So what is the key to make New Year’s resolution in 2022?
Most
of the time when people making new year’s resolutions they essentially making a
goal for themselves. The thought is you want a different outcome this year such
as losing weight, meditate more, reduce stress, or being more productive.
The
typical New Year’s resolution focuses on the wrong thing which means we think
that outcome is the thing that needs to change but it is the habit or the
system behind the outcome.
For
instance, If you have a messy room and you need to clean it but If you get
motivated in cleaning the room for an hour, you are cleaning the room for an
hour. But if you don’t change the sloppy messy habits that led to a dirty room
in the first place then you end up in the same place.
The
example above is the same with New Year’s resolution, we think what I need is
to feel less stress, or what I need is to accomplish something or lose weight
but actually what we need are the habits in the system behind those things.
So how then wire your life with good habits?
The
first thing that you focus on is not the outcome that you want but the type of
person that wants to become. If you take the losing weight, a lot of people may
say or want to lose 50 pounds but the question asked who is the type of person
that could lose weight? or maybe it’s the type of person who doesn’t miss
workouts.
New
Year’s resolution becomes not to lose a certain amount of weight or to achieve
a particular goal but to be a certain type of person. Small habits are so
useful because even if doing something five push-ups is not enough to transform
your body overnight.
It
is enough to cast a vote for being that kind of person or for being a fit
person and every action you take is a vote for the kind of person you believe
you are.
The
first task is to start casting votes for that new identity and then worry about
ramping up intensity later. Translate the identity that you are looking to
build and to a small action that you can take.
The
things like doing five push-ups or meditating for 100 seconds may not sound ambitious
for New Year’s resolutions but all of them cast a vote for being a fit person
or being a meditator.
Ultimately
when we get to the end of the year where we want is not have a result but to
look at ourselves in a new way.