A new year typically means new resolutions. So whether you’re planning to eat healthier, learn to better manage your finances, or you’re like me, striving to grow your business, we all know that New Years resolutions are hard to keep. In our fast-paced and demanding lifestyles, it is a lot easier to not do what we said and watch Netflix all day. Anything from cheating with a burrito bowl from Chipotle (it’s fresh and fresh = healthy right?), splurge on the newest designer bag (but it’s SO PRETTY AND IT WILL GO WITH EVERYTHING I OWN!!), or put things off until tomorrow… (or the day after that or the day after that…), we tend to make excuses on why it’s okay to skip out “just this one time” and wonder why we’re not healthier, happier, and more successful yet.
Change your mindset! Unless we’re able to incorporate these new habits into our daily and/or weekly routine, it would be extremely difficult for us to change our ways. By changing our mindset and perspective on the way we look and manage our behavior, we will then be able to rewire our brains to adjust accordingly, thereby enabling us to become more successful!
Learn to get excited! One example of a new habit I’m working to develop is cutting down on eating out (and if you know me or follow me on Instagram, you understand how hard that is for me!). Not only would it be more cost efficient, adopting this new lifestyle change would allow me to do what I’ve always wanted to do: learn to cook more! I’ve learned that the easiest (and probably, the only way for me) to conquer this challenge is to train myself to become more excited about home cook meals and rely less on the convenience of eating out! Getting excited about your new lifestyle change will better motivate and help you maintain a schedule to ingrain a daily choice to a developed habit!
Prepare ahead! Preparation is key in this! Not only do you have to prepare your mindset, you have to execute and carry out your plan! Depending on your resolution or new desired habit, the type of preparation you will need to be successful at integrating this into your lifestyle will vary. Without the proper preparation on how to develop this behavior (this can be done through adjusting our physical and mental routine to adopting our new habit) into our lifestyle, we are doomed to run on the same hamster wheel, wondering why we have yet to reach our destination.
One of my biggest temptations, when it comes to eating out, happens during lunchtime at work. The options of dining choices and convenient alone are great factors to further drive my bad habit, not to mention the low maintenance prep and clean up time! I learned that by changing my attitude about meal preparation, focusing on how easy and fun it can be, I could then rewire my mindset towards favoring home cooked meals and reserve dining out for special occasions and fancy business meetings. Once I was able to cater my lunches to satisfy my desires of having a variety of food options, I was more excited towards preparing and enjoying my meals! Throwing in a bag of BBQ chips, yogurt, and a couple of fruits took very little effort but made a huge difference when it comes to combatting my temptations for quick dining fixes. By doing so, I was also able to conquer my fear of not having enough to eat and getting bored with eating only one thing.
Add it to your calendar! A part of preparation is adding scheduled time into practice! Whether it’s time to study vocab words when learning new language or working on your sales model for your new business, it is an extremely important step to solidifying your new habit. Incorporating this time to practice and developing your habit will further your process and concretes your behavior.
Hold yourself accountable. If you can’t, get a friend to help! Change is hard! As a former psychology major, I can understand how difficult it is changing years of conditioning and bad habits. So if you feel like you need a little help to get started, don’t be afraid to ask! It’s always a good idea to confide in a close friend and work together to motivate each other! As mentioned in a previous blog post, it’s important to surround yourself with people who support you on your road to greatness! So why not ask for a little help and hold each other accountable for the things we said we would! That way, we can both grow personally, professionally, and further our relationship (friendship is a type of relationship!!).
There are resources! I hope this can give you peace of mind: you are not the only one interested in change. There are plenty of resources out there to advise you on ways to better adapt to your new lifestyle changes and challenge yourself. From apps to keep you on track, Timeful, to reading material to help drive your motivation to lecture videos on exposing yourself to new ideas and think change! My favorite includes Coach.me, where my friends and I can support each day as we accomplish our goals, and books that reminds me to propel forward on my path towards greatness: “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, and “Mastery” by Robert Greene (more on these books later).
Trying something new is not always easy. Undoing and/or going against ingrained behaviors are very important challenges that we all face on the path of self-development. The fact that you’re aware of these bad habits and are actively working to further your self-growth is a great start! Unfortunately, not many who recognize their problems, work to change out of their unhealthy routines and bad behaviors.
BE PROUD OF YOURSELF that you want to change and are investing time and effort to making it happen! Self-discipline is essential to adopting a new habit/behavior and overcoming this hurdle. It is also just as important to take the time out to appreciate yourself for taking the steps to becoming a better you. Be kind to yourself when you do slip up. Don’t disregard it completely, but understand that habits develop over time. Have patience and keep working hard!
Stay strong and keep challenging yourself!
Inspired by everyone’s struggle with keep their New Year’s resolution
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