Bring Your Resolutions Back to Life!

Photo credit: SXC, Inja Kim, Grace Lee

With each new year comes a week of writing the wrong year and a Hulk-sized motivation that only seems to show its face in January. Equipped with this seasonal motivation, we feel we can conquer the world, let alone a measly handful of resolutions – not one seems too lofty! As the story goes, though, with each passing week and the start of a new whirlwind of a semester, our January-born drive begins to wane, and we slowly forget that we’d resolved to do anything.
 
Well, for those of you hoping to stall that process, here are a few tips on how you might be able to keep your motivation in its fully waxed glory!

1. Shave off a resolution or two
The key is to be real with yourself and know your bounds. Can you successfully juggle four resolutions at once? Focusing your attention on one or two at a time will likely yield more fruit. After all, we make resolutions to study more regularly or do laundry before our clothes spill over the hamper because our natural instinct is to do otherwise. If we aim to go against our nature in four different ways, we’re bound to get worn out and part ways with our motivation!
 
Pick one or two of your most urgent resolutions, and once the things you resolve to do become habit, you can cut a little slack in those areas and adopt new resolutions. There’s this popular idea circulating that resolutions are to be made once a year, but they can be made on any day, at any hour! In short, slow things down a notch. A year-long supply of steady motivation beats a single action-packed month. 

2. Make solid, incremental goals…and be specific!
Let’s say you’re a coffee addict trying to tame your dependency on sugary Starbucks drinks. In your case, “I’m only going to order tall cups of coffee (rather than the usual grande)” is greater than “I’m going to cut coffee from my diet altogether” is greater than “I’m going to drink less coffee”.
 

To start from the least, it’s not easy to gain a meaningful sense of achievement when your goal is vague! Drinking less coffee can range from drinking no coffee to drinking one or two sips less than normal. It’s tough to be proud of yourself for drinking one fewer cup of coffee per week while knowing, in the back of your mind, that a more gung-ho you would be drinking zero.
 
Secondly, we teach children the alphabet before we expect them to read and ski down green slopes before attempting the black ones – both for the same reason. Progress is best made in steps! Depriving a coffee addict of coffee is a simple recipe for withdrawal, coffee-filled thoughts, and a higher chance of bouncing back to normal ways.
 
The most effective resolution is one that is specific and highly doable. Sticking to the coffee scenario, you can choose to reduce your cup size, cut your number of cups per day (if you drink multiple), or drink black coffee every other day (if it’s the cream and sugar you want to control). Once it doesn’t take every ounce of your will power to do so, you can level up and reshape your goal.
 
3. Find a buddy

When it comes to resolutions, two is better than one! Your accountability partner doesn’t need to have the same resolutions as you, but if he or she has at least one, you can keep each other in check through weekly talks or even texts. The idea is that at some point you’ll feel badly for repeating, “Err.. about that.. haven’t started fixing my coffee habits yet!” and work to share about your successes.

For those who already know you may need more extreme measures, try to find someone with similar resolutions. If you want to eat out less, perhaps you can find a buddy who’d be interested in taking turns hosting dinner once a week. You could even cook together! If you’re hoping to make good use of your Texercise pass, look for a friend who might want to join you for yoga or zumba. I bet you catch my drift.