The Reflection: New Year’s Resolution

So, this is February.

After the year-that-was January, we have reached the new month and our health goals… well… there is always next year, right?

A time-honored tradition that is part growing into adulthood is that many of us reach the realization that New Year’s Resolutions are meant to fail. We get excited, we set these new goals, then we go back to work, try it out, and then everyone we know decides to just give up on that hope for change.

Changing our eating habits and establishing healthy habits are two of the biggest resolutions, year after year. And we tease each other at the beginning of the year, “we will see how long this one lasts…”.

But there is ever-present built-in expected fail.

What if you viewed that fail as a step, rather than a pit of despair.

Let’s look at it this way. Just like the foods we eat; we go through various stages of growth that we may have thought was the end. If food stopped when we found it useful once coriander would never become cilantro, grain would never become bread, and milk would never become ice cream. But each of those points in the lives of our foods have played an important part in getting it to the next stage.

We have started fresh so many times before in our lives, and each one has been able to teach us a lesson. However, we often miss the lesson and only remember “the failure” or “the success”. So, flip the script on how you approach change, experience and results.

Think back to past changes you have tried to make. We want to learn from the past, from your past. You can learn from your old goals whether they have been to eat healthier, to cook more, portion control, join a gym, or to run a marathon.

Try out these 5 tips for changing your perspective and moving forward with that change.

1. Think about past successes and failures — you can learn from both. What caused you to feel successful? What caused you to fail? Have any of your failures actually been successes in disguise?

2. Recognize there is pressure to fail at your New Year Resolution. Most people don’t expect you to succeed at your New Year’s Resolution and that can stifle self-belief.

3. Seek motivation to change, and to continue in that change. But remember your inspiration, your why. There will come days when you don’t have the Ra-Ra attitude, but if you find an internal drive it will give you motivation on those “down days”.

4. Set two separate goals relating to your vision. Short term and long term. This allows you to see if your foundation is level and helps you stay on track for success.

5. Don’t put pressure on yourself to get everything right the first time. You are learning and growing, allow yourself to do it.

If you look at behavior change in a way that resembles the scaffolding of a building you recognize that you need a base before you can build the penthouse. Your life has given you opportunities to learn how you build, what works for you and what doesn’t.

So, take the time to reflect and recognize that you have some substantial, amazing lessons to teach yourself. This new year, work out that base while keeping that penthouse in mind.