New Years Resolutions – are you in or out?

It is the time of year that we all begin reflecting on the current year and the question of a new year resolution comes to mind. The statistics on their success rate are really quite grim. A CBS News’ survey found less than 10% actually accomplish the goal overall. What can we do? How do we increase the success probability of achieving the changes we desire?

What if we stopped looking at them as resolutions and started treating them like goals? For some reason, we look at resolutions as an all-in, boil-the-ocean, expectation of perfection on January 1. As soon as we miss a day, failure creeps into our minds. We may or may not give up, maybe we give ourselves a little grace, a mulligan or two. But as the misses mount up, the weight of failure gets heavy and we give up.

A goal on the other hand has an expectation that it is not achieved immediately, you must work toward success through progression. In this sense, we must start where we are and build up to the point we desire. We may build in periods where we falter or even plateau and include strategies to adjust and overcome. The aim of success is a date in the future, not the starting point of the change.

How does this resonate with you? Have you mastered the Resolution game? What success have you found? With a 90% failure rate, we are definitely not alone.

Change is hard. Making lifestyle changes after decades of building comfortable habits can seem impossible. This is what Health and Wellness coaching is for.