It's that time of the year again when we're all diving deep into New Year Resolutions! This can be one of the most fun times of January but what would it mean for you if you could actually stick to your goals this year, instead of giving up by the end of the month? Addictive Behaviour experts Kate Baily and Mandy Manners are using their knowledge of helping overcome negative behaviour to get you addicted to healthy habits this year. Read on!
Psssst… Wanna know a secret? We want to give you a few tips and tools to boss your New Year goals or resolutions.
How many times have we made and broken our resolutions within weeks or even days ? The ener-gy of new year can be infectious. We are full of best intentions and blue sky thinking about what we can achieve, from climbing Machu Picchu to launching a business, writing a book or quitting a bad habit like smoking or overspending.
It’s a bit like the NY is a runner’s starting block. We start off great and may clear the first couple of hurdles but by the third or fourth we are starting to flag.
1) Get clear on the goal
We know about this in coaching- it’s a SMART goal. What does success really look like? How are we measuring it? How will we know when we have achieved it? Brain-storm, journal, get a Pinterest board together- whatever your learning preference, so you can feel it, see it and sense it.
2) Boss your morning and evening routine
In the morning, set the intention, renew the intention and have space to yourself to begin each day intentionally. At the end of the day, set apart time to reflect on what went well and what you would change. Make a daily action plan:
3) Know the first step you need to take
STEP ONE. Start small. Remember in GROW when we ask, what’s the first step, to move us on one point? Then commit to doing that. If you want to run a marathon, it could be downloading Couch to 5K and doing that first of all.
4) Make STEP ONE attractive
Get some good running music, new trainers, write down all the benefits of doing this step and how it relates to your goal.
5) Make STEP ONE obvious
Tell people you are doing it, put pictures of running on your fridge, write reminders to yourself. Make your intention visible can really help to remind you to do it.
6) Make STEP ONE easy
Leave your running gear out so you can grab it and go.
7) Make STEP ONE satisfying
Give yourself a delicious coffee break, buy yourself with some bath salts to relax in or do something that is a reward for you to acknowledge your effort.
8) Get support
There is nothing like the power of a group to keep you going, to celebrate the wins and share the lows and cheer you on. We are profoundly pro-social and being seen by others is a powerball of motivation.
9) Watch your pace
Often we get tripped up by expecting ourselves to do things too quickly, so we think we are ‘setting ourselves up to fail’ or setting the bar too high when in fact it’s just that our timing is out and so we get demoralised and give up. It just takes a bit longer than expected. So by making our steps small and sustainable we can be in it to win it for the long haul.
10) Repetition, repetition, repetition
Rinse and repeat until this new ‘resolution’ becomes a good habit - it will become automatic with daily repetition and free up your incredible brain to focus on the next steps or even bigger and better goals. Keep going!
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