5 Ways to Make This New Year’s Resolve Stick!
Most resolutions are to do with breaking old habits and creating new ones. People who succeed are aware of how their lifestyle is held together by the habit they want to break, and so they set about changing their lifestyle.
Whatever you are resolved to do this year increase your chance of making it a reality by running through these simple checks.
1. How you describe your resolution
Loser scripts
- To stop mistrusting people.
- To say goodbye to being an employee.
- To lose weight.
- To stop smoking.
- To avoid stress.
- To not argue so much.
Winner scripts
- To trust people to do a great job.
- To create my own future.
- To get fit and in better shape.
- To be healthier, have clean lungs and improve my breathing.
- To be more relaxed.
- To be in agreement more often.
Positive ‘towards the future’ descriptions have a much better chance of succeeding than negative ‘moving away from’ descriptions. This is simply because your mind creates pictures of what you are describing and then steers your course in that direction – you get what you focus on. So filling your mind with images of being healthy will work far better than filling it with images of being overweight.
2. How you fit it into your future
Loser’s approach
- Don’t use a timeline.
- Expect to miraculously make your desired change by sheer will power, and expect to get it all at once.
- Have an image in your mind of your ideal situation but with no timescale attached.
- Tell yourself ‘I want this and I want it as soon as possible’.
- Feel as though you already have it simply because you have made the decision to have it.
- Believe in fate.
Winner’s approach
- Set a realistic time to achieve your desired goal then mentally project a timeline in front of you. Walk down your timeline through all the activities, and then look back at what you had to do and see what pops up.
- Burn the timeline into your mind. Have the goal in sight and then look beyond it. Imagine your timeline stretching out beyond the goal, past the horizon so that there is no end and no limit to what else can be achieved.
- Each day tell yourself what changes you are going to make over short, medium and long term timelines, e.g. ‘today I will do (x), in 3 months time I will be/have (x), and in 2 years I will be/have even more (x), and beyond the horizon I will be riding so high’.
- Have strong colourful mental images of what each stage looks like.
When you have a long term aim you give yourself time to make adjustments to your lifestyle; a few blips on the plan may be a minor setback but you will find it easy to get back on track. The decision to go for it (whatever it is) turns on your resolve; from this point on you are on a different track which is limited only by your own imagination.
3. Lifestyle
Loser’s lifestyle scripts
- I won’t expect to make any adjustments to my lifestyle.
- I will plan my change without interfering with my day-by-day routines.
- I will carry on as normal except for this one change.
Winner’s lifestyle scripts
- My resolution will require modifications to lifestyle.
- Some routines will have to change.
- I will be a different person when I have succeeded in my resolution.
- I will be seen in places I have never been before.
- I will be more discerning about the places I frequent.
- My social life will change in some ways.
- I will be more discerning about my acquaintances.
- I will appear different to people around me.
4. Self Awareness
Loser’s world
- I expect success without being aware of what stopped it from working last time (if I always do what I have always done I will always get what I have always got).
- I will push on with blind optimism unaware of limiting beliefs and behaviours.
Winner’s world
- I will learn from past experiences and make adjustments to increase my chance of success.
- I will ask others for feedback about my capability and skills.
- I will use a coach to help me identify and change limiting beliefs and behaviour of which I may be unaware.
5. Skills
Loser’s attitude
- You have all the skills you are likely to need.
- Believe you can do this all on your own without any help.
- Let arrogance or ignorance drive your behaviour.
Winner’s attitude
- You can continue to learn new skills as you encounter fresh challenges along the way.
- Other people will help you if you ask them.
- Be sensitive to your own feelings and how others respond to you.
Change can and should be exciting. It can be achieved easily and quickly if you really put your mind to it. Be persistent in using strong mental imagery and descriptions of time and context to build the foundations for success, and there’s always more to learn along the way.
Whatever the future holds for you, it happens first in the imagination. May you imagine and achieve all the success you deserve.
David Molden
Quadrant 1 International
