I hate to break this to you… New Year’s resolutions don’t work. That’s just a fact. Over 90% of New Year’s resolutions will be abandoned in 3 weeks from now. Why is this true? And if it is, where is our hope of making real, lasting changes in our lives? First, let me explain why a typical resolution is doomed to fail. Then, I will give you 3 ways that you can smash through these barriers and create lasting changes in your life.
Why resolutions don’t work:
1. Our brains are hard-wired against change. Usually, the only time your brain gets fired up enough to suggest that you make a change to your daily life is when it is confronted with a situation it doesn’t like, such as a year in review… or a number on a scale… visible surfaces covered in clutter… or dust found on a Bible. Then your brain gets anxious and resolves to fix the situation. However, as soon as the urgency is gone, your brain relaxes, gets comfortable and you begin to do what you have always done.
2. The older we become, the more set in our ways. If you are anything like me, you have years behind you where you have done things the same way. Do you still eat the same foods for breakfast now that you did 10 years ago? Do you still use a chair to pile your clothes at the end of the day, something you started doing as a young adult (because let’s face it, when we were kids, we just threw them on the floor, right!)? Do you brush your teeth at the same time everyday? Drive to work using the same roads? Check Facebook at regular intervals? We are creatures of habit. Habit is a powerful force in our lives and not easily changed, especially as we age. But an old dog can learn new tricks!
3. They say it takes 3 weeks to create a habit. This is the absolute minimum, in my opinion. For me, it takes closer to 6 months to create a lasting habit in my life, something I no longer need to think about; I just do it. Habits take a long time to become easy and automatic. New habits require determination, especially on the first day of week 4.
But does this mean that you are stuck doing the same things you have done for the rest of your life? No! The human spirit is an amazing thing! We have something within us that we call “drive” that can battle and push back the unwanted habits that we have created in our lives and create new ones.
I know this is unkind, but tomorrow I will finish this post with 3 powerful ways to create lasting change in your life. They work. I’ve done them. And I will post them tomorrow.
What are your resolutions for this New Year that you would like to see continue longer than 21 days?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Health, Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
