Towards Achieving New Years Resolutions: Getting Started
Instead of going to one of the many New Years parties I was invited to, I opted for a quiet night with a few close friends (who happen to be neighbours). We ate some delicious food, listened to some groovy music, and most importantly shared our new years resolutions out loud. This allowed us to compare our lists, brainstorm ways to practically achieve our goals, and see what others valued for 2008.
I was surprised at what came out of this gratifying collaborative experience, and I thought I would share some of the wealth.
They had picked up a new issue of a magazine Yoga+, which had a great article about how to achieve your resolutions. Apparently the entire essay is online - a highly recommended read. Some interesting ideas:
- The importance of a strength of intention to successfully fulfilling resolutions - making concrete vows (ritual or otherwise) that solidify goals.
- Useful to tie two different actions together to solidify habits and routines - ie, brushing your teeth and then sitting on your meditation cushion. If they are linked, it much more likely to be a consistent routine.
- Something I didn’t know - a known psychology research area looks at how self-control has a kind of energy store that can be depleted. So if you have the self control to go for a big race, for example, after that race you may have used up your self control and now want to eat junk food. But there are three ways your self-control or resolve can be restored: mild exercise, meditation, and rest.
- Habits (good or bad) are triggered by the environment you’re in. So changing your environment or context can help to introduce new healthy habits.
More possible resolutions or things to strive for:
- Having more social dinners with friends
- Write a gratitude list (short, quick list of things I’m thankful for)
- Keep better reading notes or a reading journal.
- Eat no processed foods.
- Eat out less (you can easily make this more concrete, ie - eating out only once per month)
- Go rock climbing more!
- Lose 20-25 pounds. If I do this, I will be well into my healthy weight and should feel great.
- Go to sleep earlier (10-11pm) and wake up earlier (for me, perfect time is 5am).
- Develop a schedule that allows me to fit in writing and exercise.
My brilliant friend Katie had another tip: A way to stop bad habits triggered by stress. When you experience stress and go straight to your bad habit - take a step back and say STOP out loud. Then do some deep breathing until you feel better and can move on.
I woke up today after that night of fun and debauchery feeling very focused and calm. I have been working steadily to organize my various todo lists according to GTD, and find practical ways to implement my new years resolutions. I’ve been looking at different web apps that help you track your goals - I want to see visually how I get these resolutions accomplished this year.
- For three of the major practical resolutions I am going to use Don’t Break the Chain, a web app that presents a clear cut calendar that you use to check off days you have accomplished the goal. Following Jerry Seinfeld’s clever productivity idea - it’s a well designed, simple, intuitive tool. I have set it up to track my three major practical resolutions: no eating out, no refined sugar, and exercise. The basic premise is that seeing a chain of calendar days in a row of achieving a goal is gratifying and it motivates you to ‘not break the chain.’
- I’m also considering finally joining 43 Things, since I am intrigued by the great community and the idea that I can see other people’s dreams and aspirations. And cheer them on.
- For the rest of the resolutions, I was thinking of using Joe’s Goals - a simple means of giving yourself points when you have fulfilled your resolution for that day built into an interface that allows you the bird’s eye view of your achievements. You can also write in a log book, describing your efforts. It looks great, but I still need to do some more testing to see if it is something I will actually use. While it may seem shallow, for me details such as ease of use and appearance are huge factors for how comfortable I will be in using the tool and whether it will last over the long term. It has to be convenient and fun.
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