Habits vs Resolutions
As we approach 2016 I’ve started thinking about the ways I plan to improve myself over the next year. The convention in Western culture is to call acts of self-improvement that are planned this time of year “New Year’s resolutions”. New Year’s resolutions are a huge topic on people’s minds and in the media this time of year. For whatever reason psychologically people, myself included, have a harder time setting goals during other times of the year and use the “fresh slate” provided by January First as a reason to reset and establish new goals. However, it’s no secret that New Year’s Resolutions have a very low success rate. A study done in 2014 by an Australian New Year’s resolution tracking website found that 2 of 3 people failed their resolutions. The study cited a variety of reasons for failure including setting unrealistic goals, improper tracking, or just straight forgetting about their resolutions. But I think there is a larger issue at play and that the mindset surrounding New Year’s resolutions is flawed and set up for failure from the get-go.
The semantics of “resolutions” completely ignores how positive changes are made and sustained. The definition of a resolution is “a firm decision to do or not to do something”. At face value this seems like an adequate way to begin making changes, by making a firm decision, but it ignores the fact that sustainable positive changes are made not through making decisions but through establishing habits. The problem with resolutions is that they offer a goal without a plan of action, and the act of just making the resolution actually makes us feel like we’ve accomplished some change already. “I’m gonna eat healthier in 2016, ok now I feel better already”. The foundation of positive changes is positive habits. The difference between making a resolution and establishing a habit is a difference of specificity and structure. A resolution, “I’m going to get back in shape this year”, is vague and lacks a plan of action. A habit, “I’m going to go to the gym 3 days a week”, is specific and offers a course to follow.
So this year as 2016 approaches I am ditching the idea of New Year’s resolutions altogether and am focusing on establishing structured and sustainable habits in all the areas where I would like to make positive changes. A requirement of all my habits is that they are specific and directed. Here’s what I have so far:
For
- Spend 5 minutes every night planning next morning’s tasks
- Out of bed by 5:30am every weekday
- If no structured task exists I will journal, read, or go for a walk
- Ready two books pe
- Post a short review of each book on Medium
For honing my creative side:
- No
- No reading sports news after 5:00pm
- Engage in creative tasks during my evenings (building shit for my house, drawing, making beats on my iPad), even if it just feels like I’m fucking around it’s better than browsing the Internet or Instagram endlessly every night
That’s what I have so far. I’m still figuring out how to outline my exercise goals but I’ll get to those. Already I am a lot more confident this year than in previous years about my chances for sustained success because of the way I have focused on the habits I need to establish and have structured them with great specificity. I will be sure to post a progress update after a few weeks and let ya’ll know if/how I would adjust the process.
PEACE!