How to Successfully Implement a New Year's Resolution
The idea of celebrating the New Year began about four thousand
years ago in ancient Babylon. This celebration coincided with
the start of spring and the planting season. Babylon was also
the birthplace of the New Year's Resolution. The idea was to
give people who had borrowed farm equipment from their neighbor
a chance to remember what they had done and return it before
planting began. Most of today's New Year's Resolutions follow in
that tradition. They are ideas, goals and challenges designed to
make practical and positive changes to our lives during the
coming year.
There is a school of thought that says most people either love
or hate the holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Years,
with no middle ground. Most people who take a definitive
position on the Holidays probably also fall into the optimistic
'glass is half full' or pessimistic 'glass is half empty'
measurement of personal outlook. Surprisingly, that's not a bad
thing.
People who take a positive or negative position on life are
great candidates for change. If you're lost in some desert or
jungle, the hardest part of that experience is finding out where
you are. If you already know where you are, mapping out the
journey to somewhere else is much easier. The same is true in
life.
Almost everyone chooses some positive change as a New Year's
Resolution. Such change usually involves weight loss, quitting
smoking, attitude adjustment, moving to a more comfortable
dwelling, getting a better job, finding a soul mate or making
more money. People start thinking a lot about change as a New
Year approaches. From a practical standpoint, this is probably
the worst time to alter your life. From an emotional standpoint,
it's the one time of year when people are willing to put forth
serious effort to change. It would be unwise to waste that kind
of an opportunity, even if it means merely laying the groundwork
for serious life modification.
I'll spare you the usual happy talk about goal setting and get
down to the nitty gritty of what it takes to make any New Year's
Resolutions you have in mind come true. I'm assuming that you've
already given much thought to the changes you want to make. The
most successful Resolutions involve issues that have been
tugging at a person for some time. They've already considered
the pros and cons are ready to take action.
The end result of any New Year's Resolution should be personal
growth in a positive direction. Given that, it might be wise to
wait before calling the divorce attorney or telling off your
Boss on January 2nd. What seems like a terrific idea during the
Holidays may turn out to be a real nightmare in the emotional
doldrums that often follow the glittery holiday season. Some
changes are better left to times when cooler heads prevail and
less alcohol is consumed.
If you're ready to move your life in a positive direction, you
will have to create a good support structure to complete the
change. People who want to lose weight, quit smoking, drinking
or some other habit can really benefit from having others around
who are trying to do the same thing. Beyond the paid weight
loss, quit smoking and addictive substance services, there are a
number of free support groups and non-profit organizations
willing to help. Most people who try to lose weight or quit a
habit without a support structure tend to fail. In many cases,
inspiration can also come from within. The idea is to make a
conscious decision to change and follow through with a strong
force of will. It's the 'follow through' part that gets most of
us. That's because we're unwilling to actually take the plunge
when we have the chance to do so.
There is no substitute for action. Positive thinking is good,
goal setting helps, but action rules! That means making time to
act on the changes you wish to make in your life and following
through. Write down a long list of things required to make
changes. Consider each item, and then turn your long list into a
short list. Make your list very personal. While people can help
you by providing support, it's imperative that you become the
main source of inspiration and support for change in your life.
Part of creating a short list is being realistic. Make sure it's
a daily, not long-term list. It's always easiest to focus in on
and accomplish small tasks on a daily basis that will help you
create the kind of change you desire in your life. While
long-term goals are always beneficial, short-term tasks are
usually required to reach them. The idea is not to overwhelm
yourself with unrealistic expectations and impossible deadlines.
Take it one-step at a time.
If you want to lose 100 pounds, start by deciding to eat just
one meal each day. Be sure that meal is in the morning and,
based on your own metabolism, doesn't exceed your body's ability
to process what you intake and still burn off fat. Diet programs
tend to be designed for people who can eat three or more small
meals a day and still lose weight. Most people who are seriously
overweight do not fall into that category. For them, a slice of
low fat lunchmeat, a couple of tomato slices and one slice of
bread with low fat margarine or mayonnaise are about all that
can be eaten most days in order to lose the weight. Hunger pains
can often be handled by drinking black coffee or low calorie
beverages. The idea is to lower the hunger threshold, rather
then eating to feed the fat.
Any change requires progressive implementation. A person who is
seriously overweight cannot really get the exercise they need
until after losing enough pounds to make that kind of bodily
strain safe. Smokers are in the same boat. They need to cut down
on smoking until reaching a point where they have the breath
needed to take long walks, jog or do other exercises designed to
clear out their lungs and help satisfy cravings.
People who want to further their education and haven't been to
school for a while might want to seriously assess their ability
to return to the culture of education before they leap in. Being
technically perceptive and able to study is part of that
preparation. If you haven't yet mastered simple computer or
internet skills, take on that challenge before you do anything
else. Email has become an important part of the student and
teacher communication process. Assignments and class information
is often communicated to students via internet. Your ability to
study and complete assignments will require time. Have you set
aside that time? What about your reading and comprehensive
skills?
If a new job or career is on your New Year's Resolution list,
but sure your ready to take the leap. Get your resume and
letters of recommendation in order. Assemble some good Resume
Stuffers. These are certificates of training or achievement,
which always look good to perspective employers. They tell a
future employer that you are willing to learn, grow and improve
your skills. Most require little more then attending a seminar
or short series of classes. Without those items, you're telling
a prospective boss that you know everything you want to know and
are unwilling to learn more. You are saying that you will not
easily accept new situations, methods or supervision. That is
not what most employers want to hear.
Relationship changes are hard. Most involve one party telling
the other to get lost. No one is going to take that news very
well. It's also true that the person delivering that ultimatum
may not always realize the full ramifications of it.
Relationship changes can seriously affect us on social,
religious and personal levels. People often decide to opt out of
a relationship for all the wrong reasons and without good cause.
Before you tear up those photos of you and your intimate partner
on that skiing trip or posing with the Knights at Medieval
Times, make sure that you are physically, emotionally and
socially ready for such a drastic change. I regularly receive
emails from people who end up back in relationships, for better
or worse, because they had not considered their next move before
walking out. Things sometimes get bitter between people, but
that's not always a good reason to break up.
Any good relationship involves work. Both parties have to be
willing to give and take as those opportunities present
themselves. If you are unwilling to work at a relationship, stay
out of them altogether. There is simply no magical formula to
create the perfect love affair. Everyone has faults and,
eventually, those faults will make themselves known in a loud
and clear way. Love often means being willing to accept those
faults in lieu of a good relationship with long-term promise.
Part of making a successful change to your life is understanding
the concept of self-esteem. People with low self-esteem rarely
admit they are wrong. They make decisions and assign blame based
on self-gratification and emotional highs or lows. People with
high self-esteem are able to look themselves in the mirror and
make a rational assessment of what's right and wrong with their
life. How is your self-esteem?
The first step to good self-esteem is understanding that you are
the one responsible for everything you think, feel and do. If
you smoke, it's a choice you made even if your parents had a
six-pack a day habit. If you're overweight, it's up to you to
assess your ability to process food and eat accordingly, even if
both your parents and all your relatives are overweight. If your
partner makes you feel bad, you're the one who allows them to
influence you in a negative or positive way.
Developing good self-esteem is vital to making positive changes
in your life. Part of that development is deciding where you
stand on important life choices. Are you honest? Are you
sincere? What do others say about you? Do you inspire people?
Whether we like it or not, these are all considerations that
affect our self-esteem.
In the end, making and following through with a New Years
Resolution means having the desire and strength of will to make
good choices that will cause a positive change in your life,
without causing undue pain to others. Those choices must be
based on good self-esteem, an ethical sense of doing what's
right and moving forward in a personal, financial and spiritual
sense.