How to Successfully Implement a New Year's Resolution
By Bill Knell
The idea of celebrating the New Year began about four thousand years ago
in ancient Babylon. This celebration coincided with the start of spring and
the planting season. Babylon was also the birthplace of the New Year’s
Resolution. The idea was to give people who had borrowed farm equipment from
their neighbor a chance to remember what they had done and return it before
planting began. Most of today’s New Year’s Resolutions follow in that
tradition. They are ideas, goals and challenges designed to make practical
and positive changes to our lives during the coming year.
There is a school of thought that says most people either love or hate
the holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Years, with no middle
ground. Most people who take a definitive position on the Holidays probably
also fall into the optimistic ’glass is half full’ or pessimistic ’glass is
half empty’ measurement of personal outlook. Surprisingly, that’s not a bad
thing.
People who take a positive or negative position on life are great
candidates for change. If you’re lost in some desert or jungle, the hardest
part of that experience is finding out where you are. If you already know
where you are, mapping out the journey to somewhere else is much easier. The
same is true in life.
Almost everyone chooses some positive change as a New Year‘s Resolution.
Such change usually involves weight loss, quitting smoking, attitude
adjustment, moving to a more comfortable dwelling, getting a better job,
finding a soul mate or making more money. People start thinking a lot about
change as a New Year approaches. From a practical standpoint, this is
probably the worst time to alter your life. From an emotional standpoint,
it’s the one time of year when people are willing to put forth serious
effort to change. It would be unwise to waste that kind of an opportunity,
even if it means merely laying the groundwork for serious life modification.
I’ll spare you the usual happy talk about goal setting and get down to
the nitty gritty of what it takes to make any New Year’s Resolutions you
have in mind come true. I’m assuming that you’ve already given much thought
to the changes you want to make. The most successful Resolutions involve
issues that have been tugging at a person for some time. They’ve already
considered the pros and cons are ready to take action.
The end result of any New Year’s Resolution should be personal growth in
a positive direction. Given that, it might be wise to wait before calling
the divorce attorney or telling off your Boss on January 2nd. What seems
like a terrific idea during the Holidays may turn out to be a real nightmare
in the emotional doldrums that often follow the glittery holiday season.
Some changes are better left to times when cooler heads prevail and less
alcohol is consumed.
If you’re ready to move your life in a positive direction, you will have
to create a good support structure to complete the change. People who want
to lose weight, quit smoking, drinking or some other habit can really
benefit from having others around who are trying to do the same thing.
Beyond the paid weight loss, quit smoking and addictive substance services,
there are a number of free support groups and non-profit organizations
willing to help. Most people who try to lose weight or quit a habit without
a support structure tend to fail. In many cases, inspiration can also come
from within. The idea is to make a conscious decision to change and follow
through with a strong force of will. It’s the ‘follow through’ part that
gets most of us. That’s because we’re unwilling to actually take the plunge
when we have the chance to do so.
There is no substitute for action. Positive thinking is good, goal
setting helps, but action rules! That means making time to act on the
changes you wish to make in your life and following through. Write down a
long list of things required to make changes. Consider each item, and then
turn your long list into a short list. Make your list very personal. While
people can help you by providing support, it’s imperative that you become
the main source of inspiration and support for change in your life.
Part of creating a short list is being realistic. Make sure it’s a daily,
not long-term list. It’s always easiest to focus in on and accomplish small
tasks on a daily basis that will help you create the kind of change you
desire in your life. While long-term goals are always beneficial, short-term
tasks are usually required to reach them. The idea is not to overwhelm
yourself with unrealistic expectations and impossible deadlines. Take it
one-step at a time.
If you want to lose 100 pounds, start by deciding to eat just one meal
each day. Be sure that meal is in the morning and, based on your own
metabolism, doesn’t exceed your body’s ability to process what you intake
and still burn off fat. Diet programs tend to be designed for people who can
eat three or more small meals a day and still lose weight. Most people who
are seriously overweight do not fall into that category. For them, a slice
of low fat lunchmeat, a couple of tomato slices and one slice of bread with
low fat margarine or mayonnaise are about all that can be eaten most days in
order to lose the weight. Hunger pains can often be handled by drinking
black coffee or low calorie beverages. The idea is to lower the hunger
threshold, rather then eating to feed the fat.
Any change requires progressive implementation. A person who is seriously
overweight cannot really get the exercise they need until after losing
enough pounds to make that kind of bodily strain safe. Smokers are in the
same boat. They need to cut down on smoking until reaching a point where
they have the breath needed to take long walks, jog or do other exercises
designed to clear out their lungs and help satisfy cravings.
People who want to further their education and haven’t been to school for
a while might want to seriously assess their ability to return to the
culture of education before they leap in. Being technically perceptive and
able to study is part of that preparation. If you haven’t yet mastered
simple computer or internet skills, take on that challenge before you do
anything else. Email has become an important part of the student and teacher
communication process. Assignments and class information is often
communicated to students via internet. Your ability to study and complete
assignments will require time. Have you set aside that time? What about your
reading and comprehensive skills?
If a new job or career is on your New Year’s Resolution list, but sure
your ready to take the leap. Get your resume and letters of recommendation
in order. Assemble some good Resume Stuffers. These are certificates of
training or achievement, which always look good to perspective employers.
They tell a future employer that you are willing to learn, grow and improve
your skills. Most require little more then attending a seminar or short
series of classes. Without those items, you’re telling a prospective boss
that you know everything you want to know and are unwilling to learn more.
You are saying that you will not easily accept new situations, methods or
supervision. That is not what most employers want to hear.
Relationship changes are hard. Most involve one party telling the other
to get lost. No one is going to take that news very well. It’s also true
that the person delivering that ultimatum may not always realize the full
ramifications of it. Relationship changes can seriously affect us on social,
religious and personal levels. People often decide to opt out of a
relationship for all the wrong reasons and without good cause.
Before you tear up those photos of you and your intimate partner on that
skiing trip or posing with the Knights at Medieval Times, make sure that you
are physically, emotionally and socially ready for such a drastic change. I
regularly receive emails from people who end up back in relationships, for
better or worse, because they had not considered their next move before
walking out. Things sometimes get bitter between people, but that’s not
always a good reason to break up.
Any good relationship involves work. Both parties have to be willing to
give and take as those opportunities present themselves. If you are
unwilling to work at a relationship, stay out of them altogether. There is
simply no magical formula to create the perfect love affair. Everyone has
faults and, eventually, those faults will make themselves known in a loud
and clear way. Love often means being willing to accept those faults in lieu
of a good relationship with long-term promise.
Part of making a successful change to your life is understanding the
concept of self-esteem. People with low self-esteem rarely admit they are
wrong. They make decisions and assign blame based on self-gratification and
emotional highs or lows. People with high self-esteem are able to look
themselves in the mirror and make a rational assessment of what’s right and
wrong with their life. How is your self-esteem?
The first step to good self-esteem is understanding that you are the one
responsible for everything you think, feel and do. If you smoke, it’s a
choice you made even if your parents had a six-pack a day habit. If you’re
overweight, it’s up to you to assess your ability to process food and eat
accordingly, even if both your parents and all your relatives are
overweight. If your partner makes you feel bad, you’re the one who allows
them to influence you in a negative or positive way.
Developing good self-esteem is vital to making positive changes in your
life. Part of that development is deciding where you stand on important life
choices. Are you honest? Are you sincere? What do others say about you? Do
you inspire people? Whether we like it or not, these are all considerations
that affect our self-esteem.
In the end, making and following through with a New Years Resolution
means having the desire and strength of will to make good choices that will
cause a positive change in your life, without causing undue pain to others.
Those choices must be based on good self-esteem, an ethical sense of doing
what’s right and moving forward in a personal, financial and spiritual
sense.
Author: Bill Knell Author's Email:
billknell@cox.net
Author's Website:
http://www.billknell.com
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A native New Yorker now living in Arizona, Bill Knell is a
forty-something guy with a wealth of knowledge and experience. He's written
hundreds of articles offer advice on a wide variety of subjects. A popular
Speaker, Bill Knell presents seminars on a number of topics that entertain,
train and teach. A popular radio and television show Guest, you've heard
Bill on thousands of top-rated shows in all formats and seen him on local,
national and international television programs.
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