New Years Resolutions? I think not!

I am not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions… People get all revved up and it lasts a few hours, days or maybe weeks, but eventually, most people quit and they wind up thinking of themselves as quitters. No will power. Losers. New Year’s resolutions set people up for failure is you ask me. And the more we fail, the more we expect to fail. So when all is said and done, we are worse off than we were before the resolution… Something isn’t working, wouldn’t you say?

I’d much rather celebrate success than focus on what doesn’t work…

Yet we people need the opportunity for new beginnings. What we are doing is not working, or not working enough. We are not living the life we want. We sense the need for change, and we want it. And the beginning of a new year is the perfect time to get moving on changes. So how can we do it right? How can we set ourselves up for success?

Let’s be radical and think outside the box. This year, instead of trying harder to be good, to work out more often or harder, to eat less junk, to be kinder, to sleep more, to drink less soda, to drink more water, to drink less beer, to laugh more, to pout less, and instead of telling ourselves that we will do better this time than the last twenty-five times, instead of failing within a few hours or days of the New Year’s resolution, I propose a shift in the way we do things. It’s a simple plan, really, summarized in 3 words:

ESTABLISH NEW HABITS

Tiny little habits. One at a time…

~If your desire is to drink more water, start a habit of setting out 5 bottles of water on your counter in the morning so you can tell how much you actually did drink. Simple, right? It will remind you all day long of your desire to drink more water. ~If you see the need to be pout less, start a habit of listing three things you are thankful for every single morning; I bet it will cause you to look at things differently…
I have been told that it takes 21 days to build a habit. That’s just three weeks.
So: ~within three weeks, you could be up to drinking half of your body weight in ounces of water, which is what your body craves, ~within 21 short days, you have have established a habit of not eating after 8 pmrn~within three weeks, you could be in the habit of saying “I love you” more. ~within three weeks, you could actually really look forward to reading 10 minutes a day–and finish that book that’s been sitting on your night stand for the last two years.

A pretty good deal if you ask me…
The only thing that truly matters is TO START. And honestly, you can really do anything for 3 weeks; that’s only 21 days. Don’t think past those few days, just do it. I bet you’ll be amazed at what happens!

Here’s to your lasting success in 2012!