This time of year so many people make New Year’s Resolutions, but how many actually go through with them past the first few weeks of January? Why wait until it’s a new year to better yourself? Self improvement should be year round. However, January is a symbolic month with origins of new beginnings and transition. “People say they’re going to eat less or they’re going to stop smoking or they’re going to stop whatever. One of the reasons it’s hard to do that is now you’re replacing this behavior with no behavior. So what you need to do is replace a habit with some other behavior.” says Art Markman, author of Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate and Get Things Done. If you’re not a celebrity with a million dollar contract or hired people to help you maintain a goal it is more challenging to accomplish.
Between Jennifer Hudson belting out ballads to herself, Janet Jackson whispering, and now Mariah Carey and Charles Barkley appearing in the “new year, new me” type of commercials we can become annoyed. Change is already difficult. Don’t make promises you know you cannot keep. If your goal is to run a mile, but you’re out of breath walking up a flight of stairs, maybe you should start off slow by stretching and walking. Nothing happens overnight. “I will not do this”, “I won’t say that”, “I will do this more”. The mental or physical things to do list some make for can become frustrating, because we at times don’t know how to go about change. Be faithful of smaller tasks like waking up a few minutes earlier, not waiting until the last minute to start something. Monitor what you watch and listen to. Surround yourself with people who will encourage and help you make the right decisions and maybe you’ll see actual results and accomplish goals throughout the entire year instead of envisioning them
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