4 Keys to Making Your New Year’s Resolution Stick

By Marianne Tomlinson

It’s that time of year again. It seems everyone I know is talking about making some sort of promise to himself or herself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad. Yes, it is New Year’s Resolution time again. The pressure is on.

But how am I going to do this and how on earth am I going to find the motivation to keep that promise to myself?

According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45% of Americans usually make New Year’s Resolutions. However, only 8% are successful in achieving their resolution.

Some of the most popular resolutions are as follows:

1. Lose weight.
2. Get organized.
3. Spend less and save more.
4. Enjoy life to the fullest.
5. Stay fit and healthy.
6. Learn something exciting.
7. Quit smoking.
8. Help others in their dreams.
9. Fall in love.
10. Spend more time with family.

On the surface, these all might seem like great goals or resolutions. Unless you create one that comes with specifics, though, you are setting yourself up for failure. Vague goals won’t work.

“You’ve got to develop a specific action plan for change,” says John Norcross, Ph.D., coauthor of Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions.

If you want to lose weight, target a specific number of pounds you want to lose, then set concrete smaller goals and the dates you aim to accomplish each of them.

Want to save money? Decide the amount you will put aside each month and figure out how you will be able to afford to do that.

Looking at the above list, vague goals are the standard. Consider “Help others in their dreams.” It’s a lofty ideal, but how do you plan to do that?

That is the first key to making your resolution stick: get specific. In addition, here are three other fundamentals that will help you follow through on your resolution:

*Share your goals with friends and family who can offer support when you’re wavering and encouragement when you are sticking to your resolution. “Public commitments,” Norcross notes, “are generally more successful than private decisions.”

*Substitute good behaviors for “bad.”

Don’t rely on willpower alone to help you change. That approach won’t work. Instead, build in a healthy behavior that’s incompatible with the one you want to change. So, if eating your usual midafternoon snack runs contrary to your goal of losing a few pounds, put together a small like-minded group and commit to taking a quick walk at your normal snack time.

Each time you put the brakes on “bad” behavior, you’ll increase your confidence in your ability to make lasting change.

*Lastly, record or chart your changed behavior, which research has indicated ”increases the probability of keeping your resolution,” says Norcross.

Some give up on their goals before they really ever embark on achieving them; for many others, it’s only a matter of weeks or months before they surrender. But none of the statistics have any influence on how you decide to lead your life—in the end, that is something you have 100 percent control over.

Let 2014 be the year that you got specific, and made your resolution stick. Happy New Year!

Marianne Tomlinson, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, works with older adolescents, adults and couples and her specialties include anxiety, depression, relationship issues, parenting, stress, and life transitions. She is a therapist at NOVO: Renewing Joy in Life, a St. Charles clinic online at www.novocounsel.com.