Dr. Roher

Yes, because despite all the good advice available everywhere, very few people succeed with their New Year’s resolutions in the long run. We know, for instance, that 60% of the people who set losing weight as their New Year’s resolution, have regained all their weight and more by July, only six months later.

Why?

Old habits are hard to shed, no matter how much you try to motivate yourself by convincing, cajoling and blackmailing. Our brain tends to repeat what’s familiar and comfortable, even if dysfunctional, so new habits are difficult to stick to, particularly if we don’t pay all the attention required to keep them in the forefront of our minds. And when I say we need to pay attention, I mean paying CONSTANT attention, at least at the beginning, until these habits get established and become like second nature. So, you can’t do one thing and think about the next one, for instance, because this would mean that one thing will get done automatically, while your mind is engaged in something else. So, whatever you chose to do, you need to be mindful of what you are doing at the moment, and focus on it at the exclusion of everything else until you are done.

Remember one thing: the more you try, the more you will increase your chances to succeed. And, even if you don’t succeed as much and for as long as you would like, you will still be ahead than if you had done nothing, so acknowledge that to yourself and try again.

Before getting started, it is important to take inventory of your assets and liabilities by looking at your history: how successful have you been in the past when you set goals for yourself? What seemed to increase your chances of succeeding, and what held you back? What happened that made you lose your initial motivation? Was it something in particular that got you discouraged, like achieving your goal was taking longer and was more difficult than you had anticipated, or you became distracted along the way by some external stressor that took precedence and sidetracked you?

Write down as much as you remember from previous experiences where you failed, or were only partially successful. Then, using that information, set out to create new goals fro yourself, by using past experiences as a benchmark for your current goals. So, for instance, if you were more successful in staying fit when you went to the gym in the morning prior to going to work, rather than in the evening, set your schedule up that way again.

Create accountability and a reward system for yourself. Having a trainer, for instance, a person who weighs you regularly, a neighbor who walks with you daily, a partner willing to set similar goals with you, or signing up for a class increase your chances of succeeding because these joint activities make you accountable not only to yourself but to others as well. People who set up to achieve their New Year’s resolutions alone have a success rate of only 29%, versus the 59% success rate of people who do so with others. Involving others increases motivation because you may not want to lose face or let the other person down. You want to be admired and looked up to; you want to be respected and liked, or like the challenge of competition.

Keep track of your successes as you go along, as this reminds you of how much you have already achieved, creating added incentive to continue on the same path.

And now that you are ready to get started, set your goals for 2012 and go, supporting yourself along the way!