A New Approach to Resolutions

New Years is always a time when I spend a lot of time reevaluating my life and making a multitude of goals. On average I would say that I actually follow through with 10% of those goals. This fact has often frustrated me. So as I stand at the dawn of a new decade I have decided to take a new approach.

This approach is based on a couple of articles I have recently read.

The first was "The Definitive Guide to Sticking to Your New Year's Resolutions" from Leo Babauta at ZenHabits. Leo breaks down why resolutions fail and then offers his method of keeping resolutions. My two favorite points are "we try to do too many resolutions at once, and that spreads our focus and energies" and "resolutions are often vague...don't contain a concrete action plan". His solution called the 6 Changes Method requires 6 habits and 2 months per habit. He encourages you to take it slow and make the change gradually and easy. A very tortoise "slow and steady" approach.

The next article "Blame It on the Brain" from the Wall Street Journal. Illustrated how scientific studies have shown that willpower is "an extremely limited mental resource" they compare it to a muscle that can reach failure. Below are some excerpts from the facinating article:

"...several dozen undergraduates were divided into two groups. One group was given a two-digit number to remember, while the second group was given a seven-digit number. Then they were told to walk down the hall, where they were presented with two different snack options: a slice of chocolate cake or a bowl of fruit salad.

Here's where the results get weird. The students with seven digits to remember were nearly twice as likely to choose the cake as students given two digits. The reason, according to Prof. Shiv, is that those extra numbers took up valuable space in the brain—they were a "cognitive load"—making it that much harder to resist a decadent dessert."

"Given its limitations, New Year's resolutions are exactly the wrong way to change our behavior. It makes no sense to try to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time, or to clean the apartment and give up wine in the same month. Instead, we should respect the feebleness of self-control, and spread our resolutions out over the entire year."

These two articles have convinced me that I a have been trying to "run faster than I am able". I am going to focus on one main goal/new habit each month, instead of the laundry list of resolutions from years past. Picking just one thing has been difficult. There is so much I want to do now! But I am confident that narrowing my focus will lead to greater success. I will keep you all posted on how it goes.

*I really encourage reading both articles. Both have great insights on goal setting and habit forming.