This year will be different
New Year’s resolutions… most of us make them, sometimes we try to follow through with them, but few amongst us really care about them after February. Nonetheless, New Year’s resolutions are an important opportunity to make beneficial changes in our lives, particularly if those changes are meant to improve our overall health. So why do we fail so often to fulfil them?
According to Dr. Gail Myhr, psychiatrist and director of the McGill University Health Centre’s (MUHC) Cognitive-behavioural therapy unit, “we craft resolutions that are often very important long-term goals that require long-term changes. They are not easy to fulfil, and we tend to disengage from them early on if we do not see an immediate result.” Fortunately, Dr. Myhr has three recommended techniques that can help us achieve our resolutions:
Step One - Define your long-term goal
It is important to be introspective and know what in your life is pushing you to make these life changes. Be sure that the motivation comes from you, and that the result is for you. Begin by asking yourself: who do you wish to be by this time next year? Do you wish to be someone who knows how to manage his or her anger? Do you wish to be a non-smoker? Do you wish to be someone who looks fabulous?
“These goals are designed to be very open-ended,” says Dr. Myhr. “They are not necessarily easy to accomplish in the short term, and often require sustained life changes.” According to Dr. Myhr, your long-term goals or dreams are important motivators for change, but they are not enough. Not seeing progress on these long-term goals from day to day can become discouraging and lead to early disengagement.
Step Two - Set your short-term objectives
Now that you know your long-term goals, set the short-term objectives that you can reach easily in the course of your typical week. “Let’s say your long-term goal is to become a calmer, more relaxed person,” explains Dr. Myhr. “Plan to achieve this over the course of the year by breaking down the job into short-term objectives. For example, you might start by reading a book or take a course in stress management. Then each week, you could set a short-term objective which will lead you to your goal - like meditating, or exercising twice a week, or turning off your emails in the evening.”
Your short-term objectives should be activities that are relatively easy to accomplish. “Measure your overall progress by comparing the improvements you make in your short-term goals from week to week,” says Dr. Myhr. “In this way, you can keep your steps manageable without being distracted by how much more you need to accomplish to reach your goal.”
Step Three - Form positive habits
It becomes much easier to keep true to our short-term objectives if the actions we take to accomplish them are part of our daily routines. “The key is to make the actions you take to achieve your short-term objectives into habits,” explains Dr. Myhr. “To do this, an individual must engage in a new behaviour at least 30 times.” It may seem like a daunting and repetitive task, but once you have performed an action about thirty times, you become used it, and you will not succumb as easily to excuses that make you stop.
Looking forward to a healthier 2014
No matter what resolutions you wish to make for the New Year, the MUHC wishes you good luck, and stands with you for a healthy lifestyle in 2014.