How to Keep Your Resolutions Sustainable!

Nikki Anderson

You’ve made your resolutions – now how do you keep them?   What will ensure that at the end of 2010 you’ve staid consistent with your goals? It’s easy to start out the year with the best intentions to do things differently  and then …. Something happens. 

by Nikki Anderson
Founding Partner and Coach at Think Feel Know

All the resolution to make changes slips out the door and you revert into your old ‘stand-by’ patterns.   What happens along the way?   Is it laziness?  Is it that you’ve changed your mind?  Or could it be that you haven’t set yourself up to succeed?   Following are 5 key ingredients to ensure success and keep you on track. 

5 Keys to Keeping On Track

1.  Repetition – Give a new habit at least a month.   You need to give your brain enough time to become conditioned to doing the activity repeatedly so you eventually do the activity on autopilot.      For example, if you eat lunch everyday at noon most likely your stomach will be growling by 11:45AM and your brain would tell you it’s time to eat.  

2. Accountability – You are 10 times more likely to show up when someone else is expecting you.  The easiest person to flake on is you.    Think about all the times you’ve accomplished something – chances are most of the time it was because someone else was expecting a result from you by a certain time/date.    Having appointed times and / or deadlines gives our brain something to aim toward. 

 3.  Support – We all need someone to believe in us and remind us that we’re moving the right direction, especially in the midst of change when creating a new habit may feel unnatural or uncomfortable.   It could just give you that extra surge of energy when you feel like calling it quits.  

4.   Benefit– In order to stick with anything we have to be able to connect with the benefit of it on some level.  Ask yourself “what will this new habit give me?”, and then, write it down someplace so you don’t forget it.      

 5.  One  – Focus on changing ONE habit at a time.   Don’t try to change your whole world at once.   Build upon the changes slowly so that you can anchor your new habit, thus feel successful.   Success breeds success.   It’s when we try to change everything at once that we become overwhelmed and quit.  Keep it simple and you WILL succeed!  

Here’s to a year of sustainable growth!

Much love,

Nikki

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Tags: Inspiration, Know Yourself, motivation, Wellness

Category: Live Your Best Life