Why are some – should that be MOST – New Years Resolutions doomed to fail?
For more years than I care to remember I’ve silently started the New Year with a wish to change in some way or another – usually related to improving one of my many failings.
Be a better person – lose weight – get the accounts ready on time this year!! – stop procrastinating – you know the sort of thing. Beat yourself up why don’t you!
Almost without fail the resolution is unlikely to last to the end of January, discarded almost as soon as the christmas decorations are taken down.
There have only been two resolutions that I’ve kept – so why did those succeed where all the other fail?
Looking at the list above you can see the resolution is coming from a mind-set of “my existing life is lacking something or isn’t good enough”
- be a better person comes from I’m not good enough
- lose weight comes from I’m not good enough because I’m fat
- get the accounts ready on time comes from I’m not good enough because I’m disorganised
- stop procastinating comes from I’m an inadequate person who likes to avoid things
It’s easy to see why they’ve failed – they’re not attractive enough as ideas to keep me coming back to them for any length of time.
Let’s face it I am the way I am because I like to be that way. If I’m overweight and disorganised then it’s because I don’t focus on these areas of my life – I always have other things which are more interesting to me, better ways to spend my time.
Looks like the resolution must be appealing enough to me for it to stand a chance of lasting long enough to take root.
So would it be possible to find a different way to look at one of my constant failed resolutions which would work?
What works for you?
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