Why Resolutions Often Don’t Work

We’ve briefly talked about the reasons why we make resolutions. These promises to ourselves can be powerful motivators in helping us to move forward in our lives. They give us a sense of purpose.  But they also tend to fail to become a reality more often than not. Chances are good that you’ve made resolutions, probably with the start of a new year, which has failed to stick. You’re certainly not alone. Perhaps if we can understand why resolutions sometimes don’t work, we can find a way to make our next one become more successful. I’d like to share my thoughts with you on this. Took on Too Much This can happen in a number of ways. One common error when making resolutions is to choose a bunch of things you want to change about yourself RIGHT NOW. Your brain can only handle so many things at once. It’s not possible for you to focus on making too many changes. Instead, choose one or two resolutions to prioritize. Also, know that these changes won’t occur overnight. It takes anywhere from a month up to 6 months to make something a habit. So bear in mind that progress will occur in small pieces, rather than in one magnificent transformation. Understand that taking baby steps to instill new habits will be a far more effective approach than simply expecting to change a long-ingrained behavior immediately. Too Vague “I’m going to lose weight this year,” is probably the most common resolution ever made. How many times have you uttered these words? How many times have you been successful in losing a significant amount of weight or changing your health for the better? We’ve all been there. The problem isn’t a lack of willpower, It’s that the intention is simply too vague. A well-defined resolution should have specific aspects such as the number of pounds you’d like to lose and a time frame to lose it. In addition, planning should include benchmarks for measuring your progress. We’ll discuss these later in our challenge. Lack Of Focus Without proper focus on your resolution, it’s bound to fail. “Out of sight, out of mind,” may be a cliche, but most sayings such as these are based in some truth. Getting busy with day to day responsibilities, lack of time management, daily stressors and other distractions can rob our attention from our important goals. Deciding to prioritize our resolutions and making a plan to keep it at the forefront of our minds will go far toward making it a reality. There are tons of other potential reasons why resolutions may have failed.  Sometimes simply understanding these will help us move past them in setting new goals that we will accomplish.