10 reasons why youve already broken your resolutions

10 reasons why youve already broken your resolutions 10 Reasons Why Youve Already Broken Your ResolutionsPosted February 5, 2014, by Marni Williams This year Im going to make terrariums in my lunch break. Eat meals made entirely of kale and quinoa. Speed-read broadsheets and savour James Joyce. Meditate on the hour, every hour. Make 3am mora productive. Get a thousand Pinterest followers. Create the perfect SlideShare that goes viral. Sound familiar? All year our inboxes and newsfeeds eagerly prod us with ways to better ourselves so much so that our expectations can start to look something like this Im going to smash those ten productivity hacks before breakfast. Find the secret to success and the meaning of life by lunchtime, and tritt the bucket list over for good measure. This is going to be my year. Like me, you might have been busy delivering yourself a similar pep talk over the past month, but lets be real its already February and are we really going to change? Various studies suggest that somewhere between 78 and 90 per cent of us who made resolutions will break them. If the thought of this makes you despair, dont be downhearted get realistic You might just surprise yourself if you do. WHY YOURE LIKELY TO FAIL AT YOUR RESOLUTIONS 1. You havent actually made any Only half of us actually get to the point of making resolutions, the other half prefer to stick to quick wins. You might assume that making difficult choices is the curse of being human, but were not alone. Researchers at Macquarie University have recently conducted experimentswith bees, proving that they avoid difficult decisions just as we do. So if even the hard-working, team-playing, goal-dedicated bee avoids the tough calls, then what hope do we have? There is actually some wisdom in not relying on the external push of new year hype to make big changes its a time of year when we are susceptible to being overly ambitious. If you really want to change, you can start at any time, so if youre one of the 50 per cent who havent made any formal resolutions, keep reading because you could still be ahead of the game. 2. You gave up before you began Fitness First conducted a survey of over 1500 Australians in December 2014, asking about their attitudes and commitments towards new years resolutions, and found that only nine per cent were confident of sticking to their goals. Thats a lot of people letting themselves off the hook before theyve even tried. The top factors blamed for broken resolutions were too much effort (56 per cent) and not enough time (42 per cent). Its normalto come up against these kinds of excuses before committing to your goal, but if a few weeks have gone by and youre still wearing them out then you could be in trouble. 3. You didnt write them down 4. You told everyone about it. Or nobody at all Tell people of your goals, just dont splash it all over social media thinking that the potential of public egg-on-face alone will keep you on track. Bein g accountable is important, but keep the life-changing stuff for those around you who will actually help you to reach out for stab und sttze when you need it. If you tell the doubters then you might just hear your own doubts reflected back at you. 5. You think that by saying it, youre doing it If your goals came into being on December 31, then chances are you still havent actually started. Or maybe you have but theres more you can be doing. Most of us know that goals need to be specific, measurable, actionable, relevant and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T), but even if theyre a long-term goal, we shouldnt wait until the end of the year to reflect on them. Take Miho Kubagawa wrote about her successful year of resolutionsfor the Huffington Post. For the whole of 2013 she and a dozen friends committed to 12 one-month resolutions, emailing each other on the first of every month to say how they went and what theyd be doing next. They even set up a Google Doc to track everyones progress, and she sa ys the group has become each others greatest cheerleaders. Whether youre committing to 12 resolutions or just one, the lesson here is to track your progress as you go. 6. You dont have a personal mascot And no, I dont mean Tony Robbins, Richard Branson or Dr Phil. To give you an idea, mines Mr Blobby. Hes a plastic, overweight looking clown figurine with wild eyes and a demented smile hes so unhinged-looking that I take one look at his face and it reminds me that lifes a bit crazy and we all just need to try and cope. My point is not to exclusively idolise people or fictional characters who appear to have it all together. Sometimes we dont need icons, we need flawed, bumbling mascots. Its a point that Dr Betul Sekendiz of Central Queensland University makes when talking of our resolution to be healthier This can be achieved if a person knows their personal weakness and strengths as much as the threats and opportunities in their external environment We dont need gods, we need to u nderstand that were all doing our best. 7. You keep getting oh look, something shiny If youre feeling paralysed by the mammoth task youve given yourself then you might have started looking for distractions. Or maybe youre just leaving it to the last minute to give it a real go, because then if you fail you can blame the fact that you didnt give it enough time. When you feel overwhelmed the best thing you can do is to break the big goal down into small tasks with set timeframes. You can even set yourself up with some killer apps that will turn off notifications and prompt you to stay on track. Basically, youve got to keep the carrot dangling close to your face or youll forget its there. 8. You forgot to party Theres no better motivation than rewarding yourself as you go. When making changes, were like puppies in training give us treats and we wont revert to old behaviours as quickly. Did you finish your daily task? Fortnightly sprint? Great, spend an hour reading that trashy m agazine or searching for vintage cars you cant afford. Then get straight back into it. 9. You dont have a goal-getting outfit planned How can you expect to reach your goals if you dont visualise? Try writing down all of the potential benefits of you achieving your goals to get your imagination sparking. Then let the daydreaming begin. Procrastinators, rejoice there are scientifically proven ways to help you overcome the beast. Youre welcome. 10. Your goals are actually things you want to achieve Youre probably thinking of course But sometimes the problem with resolutions is that they need to be resolved or we have failed the test. Its a thought that some business thinkers share, suggesting that so-called stretch goals need to be treated with more care. Adam Galinsky in Goals Gone Wild suggests that goal setting can lead us to focus on the wrong things and in turn bring on extreme behaviours. The problem is that we often talk in absolutes I must lose 10 kilos I have toget paid mor e. We do need to define and measure small increments of success, but such resolutions can be restricting. You might have resolved to lose weight, but actually the true goal is to feel healthy, confident and to have more energy. Maybe youre focused on getting a promotion, but is it really about the promotion or do you want to foster more of an interest in your work or put yourself in a location to learn something new? If your resolutions are slipping away all too easily, then try reframing your language to focus less on the attainment of something. Perhaps you want a state of working less, of less financial stress, of greater creativity, of social connectedness, of self-improvement, or apassion for what you do. This leaves you in a position of flexibility, of being open to changing how you might get there. Who knows, there might also be a slightly different place to the one you pictured briefly while basking in the afterglow of fireworks and a few champagnes. Having success with your resolutions? 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