There is nothing that can match the feeling of entering a New Year with the fierce determination to change bad habits and improve as an individual. However, for most us, this motivation lasts for only for a couple of weeks. Are there any specific mistakes that can be avoided while forming our New Year’s resolution in order to ensure we meet our desired goals?
- Self-Efficacy- This term coined by Psychologist Albert Bandura, can be defined as “how well one can execute courses of action required dealing with prospective situations.” Self-efficacy is our own assessment of whether we can achieve a particular goal or not. Years of research has proved that people with high self-efficacy, i.e., those with greater faith in their abilities are able to accomplish more. The link between self-efficacy and achievement is strong. It is, therefore, essential that you have faith in yourself. If you think you are someone who doubts themselves too much, this would be a good place to analyse your personal thought process, recognise unhealthy patterns, and deal with them effectively. Attached at the bottom of this article is another piece on how to improve self-efficacy.
- Avoid the all-or-none approach- The all-or-none approach is a thought of mind which means that we would do either do everything right or do nothing at all. A good example of this all-or-none approach is – planning to work out every day of the week but scrapping the whole workout plan of working out if you the first time you skip the first day at the gym. workout. The all-or-none approach is essentially failing on purpose. Habits are formed over a long period of time and changing them overnight is impractical. Quitting the first time you fail, or setting up expectations where you believe you would never fail is a dangerous path to tread, that is destined for failure. Accepting that you will slip up at times and to keep going after that is essential to break the all-or-none approach. Setting up realistic goals, cheat days, and breaks are ways in which you can make your resolution more achievable.
- Identify your weaknesses and push them aside – The best way to avoid mistakes is to identify and combat the stimulants that prompt bad habits. Do you binge-eat after you skip lunch? Are you late for college because did not wake up on time? Did you not wake up on time because you were up till 2:00 a.m. scrolling on your phone? We are most likely to break our resolutions and fail in such moments of weakness. Therefore, identifying patterns that lead to problematic behaviour and dealing with those beforehand reduces the probability of slipping up. It is important to remember that despite all this planning and strategising there will still be days when we will deviate from the plan and make mistakes. The key is to not give up on the effort but learn from the said mistakes.
- Plan ahead and make a time-bound plan- A New Year resolution must never be vague. Just like a goal without a plan is just a dream, similarly, a resolution without a plan is just wishful thinking. Simply making a resolution along the lines of- “I will start working out” is not good enough because it is very vague. You must set up specific goals about your exercise routine.
If you set up a particular resolution, be clear with yourself regarding two things. First, why do you want to do achieve any goal? Second, how do you intend to go about it? A time-bound plan, i.e., setting up milestones that you wish to achieve beforehand would be an excellent way to ensure that you have something to motivate you and look forward to once the initial excitement dies down. - Set-up cues for small habits- Smaller lifestyle changes like a good skincare routine, keeping your room organised, and staying hydrated can be easily incorporated into our routine with the help of small “cues”. These cues will act as signals that will remind us of the little adaptations that we need to make. Examples of such cues could be- “I will wear sunscreen every day after I moisturise” or “Every time I feel the urge to consume caffeine, I will drink at least 250 millilitres of water first.” Seemingly insignificant good habits like folding your laundry, staying hydrated, wearing sunscreen, and writing in your journal 10 minutes a day before sleeping can have an immensely positive impact on our physical and mental health.
The most beautiful thing about the New Year is that it provides us the opportunity to appreciate the past year and think of ways to grow in the upcoming year. Resolutions should not stem from fear or insecurity, but from a desire to grow and become a better version of ourselves. Confidence, conscientiousness, a desire to grow, and a little help from the aforementioned points is all we need to make our New Year resolutions to work.
Image Credits- ET Online
Kinjal Pandey
kinjalp@dubeat
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