Why most people don't stick to their resolutions and how to change it !

We all have been there, we set resolutions with all high hopes thinking this time (every year!) we will stick to it and make it through. And yet again, year after year, by February most of us quit because we feel discouraged by the lack of willpower.

How to change that?

A study shows that only a scarce 19% of those who make resolutions make ti through to the end!

Some of the main reasons are:

- Most of the people set a resolution based on what they think they should, rather than what they actually want to do.

- You must be ready to change your life habits, you have to give up something to gain something.

- We set the resolutions without real planning or tools to help achieve them. Monitoring success is a key factor for success.

- The goals are unspecific, too vague and broad.

- We are afraid of change because we rather fail with the way we know than the unknown (new) way.

SO what to do to make it to the end of our resolutions and make them long term goals.

As traditional goals, they need to be SMART : Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-oriented. You can find tons of information on more detailed explanation on internet (just google it J).

Ganesha, remover of obstacles

 

Here a list of things to do to overcome the quitting (from FINISH by John Acuff):

- Cut your goal in half. As mentioned above, goals are too broad or unattainable. Instead of wanting to loose 10 kgs (20 pounds) in 3 months, give yourself 5 kgs (10 pounds) in 6 months.

- Choose what to ditch. You must give up something to clear some time to instill new habits. Stop watching TV, or spend less time on sociale media...

- Make it fun if you want it done.

- Leave your hiding places, like watching Netflix, responding to emails that are far from your goal, start vacuum cleaning, going out for a coffee break... You can take your "hiding places" as a reward, No Netflix until I finish writing that page...

- Ignore noble obstacles. I am afraid to start this blog because it's going to be successful and someone wills teal the content...

- Get rid of your secret rules. With the years and the experiences accumulating, we tend to create beliefs, or as called in the book, secret rules. Some are: "For something to count, it has to be difficult", "If I'm not miserable, I'm not doing something productive", "If you have to learn something new, you are failing"... and countless more. Each one of us have our own secret rules. Then they need to be first, identified, then replace it with a new rule that overrides it so you can finish.

- Use data to celebrate your imperfect progress. There are so many ways of measuring: kilos (pounds) lost, kilometers (miles) run, time spent reading.... for more details, we recommend you to get the book ;)

- And remember, don't forget to make it fun and reward yourselffor any small achievements!

 

What about starting the year with a resolution to go deeper into your yoga practice! ;)

With Love, With Light, With Gratitude,

LATY