Winda Saintil
Staff Writer
Happy New Year! At some point within the last month, we have found ourselves repeating this famous phrase.
The use of this phrase brings about renewed hope, strength, joy, and determination.
However, we know that all those positive emotions or promises can fizzle very quickly. This is a common experience for many of us.
We intend to fulfill our New Year’s Resolutions, but we give up before we even get to the finish line and then we resort to starting again the next year.
As you can see, this produces a continuous cycle. Let’s get out of the endless loop and convince ourselves to do the hard things. This is easier said than done so I would like to encourage creating systems and choosing to limit who you share your goals with.
Some common resolutions include:
1. Maintaining a workout habit.
2. Eating a healthy diet.
3. Losing weight.
4. Being more productive.
5. Traveling more.
What is a system? A system includes many different parts working together to achieve a specific goal. For example, to be more productive, set up a series of actions that you can take to limit distractions in your environment. This could look like wanting to read more books, but your phone or entertainment addiction is getting in the way.
Your system would have to be able to effectively limit those distractions. For this specific instance, the phone could be placed in a different room or completely turned off during certain hours to make it harder to get to or less appealing. To the brain, the phone would become less interesting because there is an obstacle associated with getting to it.
On the other hand, you could place the books right in front of you or somewhere in your immediate space which would make them more inviting. Additionally, snacks and drinks could be placed in that same space. These actions would make it easier to remain in that area and focus on reading books because the obstacles have been removed, and it is more comfortable.
Moreover, there is nothing wrong with writing your goals down because this allows you to remember what you are working towards. You can also solicit the help of a friend to keep you accountable and to help you track your movement towards your goal. Positive reinforcement/having an extra pair of eyes on you can really encourage you to keep moving forward.
However, you must be cautious about announcing your goals to too many people.
When we tell people about all the great things we have planned, their gushing admiration may make us feel like we have already achieved those things. This may cause us to veer off track.
Share and celebrate when you have completed your goal. The joy of completion is first for yourself and yes, it is nice to be able to get social validation but that should not be why you’re choosing to do the things you do.
caption: Photo courtesy of Burst by Shopify
