It’s 11:26 a.m. on January 1. You’ve just cracked your eyelids open from last night’s festivities, and although you are still camped out in a friend’s apartment in your sequined dress, you feel like a new you. Despite the slight aches seeping through your muscles and bones from the excessive dancing and partying from the night before, the new year means a new self.
You’ve made several viable New Year’s resolutions. This year you are determined to keep them. Number one, only eat Yopo four times a week. Number two, finally get up the courage to try cross-fit (then you can also hang with ROTC guys). Number three, stop stealing food out of the Agora, and number four, finally end that long-lost dream that you’ll end up dating Harrison Barnes.
Two months go by and it’s the end of February. Spring break is right around the corner, and yet we’re back to eating cheese puffs and frosted flakes. You can get an elliptical at the gym in exactly 2.5 minutes and Valentine’s Day has passed without a rose in your hand (and you’re still dreaming about Harrison … oops).
Here’s my question – why can’t we keep our New Year’s resolution? We make this everlasting promise to ourselves to somehow improve our lives and yet, it’s so incredibly hard to keep. I swear, keeping a new year’s resolution is harder than having any sort positive feelings toward Austin Rivers, avoiding late night at Bskis, or not getting out of breath when you walk up the business school stairs.
To be honest, I can’t talk as an expert on this topic either. I have just about the worst self control in the world. Put chocolate, fried food or a hot guy in front of my face and I’m likely to indulge.
But why? Year after year we make these goals for ourselves, and yet we can’t keep them. Is it a lack of self respect? Self control? There’s always room for improvement – so why not find a comprehensive solution to the problem?
It seems like people who give themselves crazy New Year’s resolutions are setting themselves up for failure. What I’ve figured out is that much of the problem is that we’re setting impossible goals for ourselves. You can’t work out for a week and expect to look like Gisele Bündchen.
Often, when we set resolutions for ourselves, there is delayed gratification to our actions. Let me explain. When you buy a new pair of shoes – you can go home, try on your shoes, and immediately get excited about how great you are going to look wearing these around campus. When you go to the gym, choose an apple over a Twinkie, or review your notes every night after class, there is delayed gratification. You don’t immediately get more in shape, feel healthier or get a better grade. This delayed gratification is the deterrent for keeping the resolution in the first place.
Here are your three reasons (and three steps) to start keeping that New Year’s resolution. I know it’s February, but it’s definitely not too late to (re)start that resolution. I mean, you probably already did it for at least a week – I bet you can do it for a few more!
The first: don’t set impossible goals. When you tell yourself you are going only eat fruits and vegetables, work out a twice a day and never go out and only study – it is so much easier to fail. If you give yourself a reasonable goal to accomplish, like work out three times a week, or eat one or two desserts a week, it is much easier to accomplish. And then, you do have some sort of gratification once you accomplish your goal. Additionally, if you set an impossible goal for yourself, you will constantly feel like you’re failing. And no one likes failing.
The second: moderation, moderation, moderation. My lifelong philosophy is moderation. You should never completely deprive yourself of anything! Whether it’s food, less television or partying – everything is OK once in a while.
The third: give yourself credit. Like Pavlov’s dogs, we, as humans, operate with rewards. If we get positive feedback from one of our actions, we’re likely to do it again. So eat that fro-yo, go out, have a little fun and don’t completely deprive yourself of anything. This way, you will accomplish your goals and it will be so much easier.
Just pretend its Jan. 1 again. Follow my rules, and I promise you’ll succeed.
Sources:
Girl eating Cheetos (photo): sodahead.com; http://www.sodahead.com/fun/cheetos-or-fritos/question-2180207/?link=ibaf&q=&imgurl=http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4544588931_382d739f4b.jpg