3 Steps to Making Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick!

It’s that time again!

And guess what—I’ve got some sobering news…

New Year’s resolutions are a complete waste of time!

Yep, according to a recent study from the University of Scranton, only 8% of all people actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions.

The other 92%?

Well, not to be mean, but if you could ask each of them personally, they’d surely tell you they couldn’t drop those stubborn 15 pounds in six months because “the gym was always too crowded”; or they’d come up with convincing rationalizations to explain how they were always “too tired/busy to read for 30 minutes before going to bed every night, because xyz.”

And hey, we’ve all found ourselves making resolutions every year just to see them fade away as time goes by (I’m certainly as guilty as anyone else!)

In fact, most of us are unable to keep up with our resolutions past the first few days of the year…

Studies have shown that close to 70% of people who’ve made new year resolutions will have abandoned them within the first two weeks!

So what’s the difference between those who actually achieve their goals, and those who keep making excuses?

What keeps pushing us off course whenever we THINK we’re on the right track to reaching our goals?

What separates the doers from the dreamers?

You might want to sit down for this one, because…

Your brain is getting in the way of your success!

Humans are hardwired to resist changes to our behavior; it’s simply part of our nature.More specifically, a part of our brain called the “basal ganglia,” which is in charge of certain motor functions, pattern recognition, procedural learning, and, most importantly:habit-forming behaviors.

Now, don’t get me wrong…

This doesn’t mean all your resolutions are doomed from the start.

It just means you’ll have to tackle them from a different angle.

“Between the great things we cannot do, and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing.”
—Adolphe Monod

Lasting change can only be achieved through the power of habits

Those who fail have their minds completely set on these “specific goals,” but they are not aware of the small changes that need to take place in order to actually succeed.

And what’s even worse, this failure to achieve goals plagues every aspect of our lives, from our relationships with friends and family, to our day jobs, and our online businesses!

This might sound like a cliché, but humans are creatures of habit!

Successful people are simply those with successful habits.
—Brian Tracy

In his best-selling book, The Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg tells the story of Eugene—a man whose brain was so damaged by a viral infection that he survived with only his short term memory and memories of his life experience prior to the infection.

In the final decades of his life, Eugene and his wife moved to be closer to their children.

If asked to map out his new home or neighborhood in a simple diagram, he just couldn’t do it, since he had no memory of this new location.

However, he was able to successfully navigate his way around their home, find items in the cupboards with ease, and even take a stroll around the neighborhood…as long as NOTHING changed along his route.

How was he able to do this with absolutely no memory?

The short answer is: the virus didn’t damage his basal ganglia!

Eugene was basically living day to day on “autopilot.”

…much like when you can’t remember if you locked the door—you did, of course, you just can’t remember because you were “sleepwalking” through a well-established routine!

By studying Eugene’s unique condition, researchers came to this conclusion:

You are little more than the repetition of your behaviors.

In fact, research shows that over 40% of all our daily activities are simply routines that require little conscious thought.

Thus, if you’re truly motivated to create different results in your life, it’s imperative that you break bad habits and replace them with good ones.

But how do we get rid of those age-old habits?

The process starts with an audit

We are all susceptible to our bad habits.Dreamers fantasize about the rewards while doers must first understand where they currently are to figure out where they want to go, and how to get there.

It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
—Benjamin Franklin

I’ll give you a personal example: a couple of years ago I catalogued my routine and found that I was falling far short of what I deemed acceptable…

You might ask yourself similar questions:

How much am I exercising?
How well am I eating?
How much am I reading?
How often am I creating content for my business?

During my audit, I found that I wasn’t exercising regularly. I was eating out far too much. I’d not read nearly enough books in the past 12 months. And I wasn’t creating an acceptable output of content.

Does this sound familiar?

Audit your own routine and identify the habits you’d like to replace.

“If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.”
—Jack Dixon

Once you’ve got a clear picture of where you’re at and where you want to go, it’s time to take a look at…

The science of habit formation

In The Power of Habit, Duhigg describes the three-step neurological process that forms habit: the cue, the routine, and the reward.

What Duhigg calls the “Habit Loop” starts with the 1.) cue, an event that triggers your brain to react on autopilot through one of your habits; then, an emotional, physical or mental 2.) routine follows; and finally, the 3.) reward is presented, which helps the brain decide whether a particular Habit Loop is worth remembering or not.

The first step towards replacing harmful habits is choosing a cue that will trigger an effective response.

It could be anything from a simple note on your refrigerator to something more complicated like setting a radio alarm clock to a specific station that will get you on board a particular train of thought that will ultimately lead to you take action.

Let’s say your goal is to get into the habit of jogging 30 minutes every morning.

What would remind you to go jogging?

Setting an alarm on your cell phone?

Hanging a poster of a professional athlete on your wall?

Leaving your running shoes on the floor, next to your bed, so you can literally stumble upon them every morning?

You can try different cues, and experiment with any combination of them. The goal is to figure out what works for you!

The reward within your particular Habit Loop needs to provide immediate and undeniable motivation, so that you’ll immediately start to yearn for it the second you come in contact with your cue.

Think about what motivates you.

Whether it’s a piece of chocolate waiting for you when you get home from jogging…

An episode of your favorite sitcom just waiting on your DVR for you to press play…

Or that collection of funny “fail” videos you’ve watched over and over, but still manages to crack you up every single time…

This step can be a bit tricky, especially since a time may come when you are no longer properly motivated by such a reward, which might lead you astray.

After a few days of executing your Habit Loop, you should ask yourself if you still crave the reward you’ve chosen. If not, then it’s time to choose a new reward in order to continue building a powerful habit.

With your cue and reward in place, it’s time for action!

Execute your routine as part of your Habit Loop, and truly commit to your plan.

You could even put your plan in writing in order to really hammer it into your brain. It could be something like:

“Whenever I see [insert CUE here], I will [insert ROUTINE here], to get [insert reward here]”

Specifically, if we go back to the example of jogging: “Whenever I see my running shoes next to my bed, I will go jogging, to get that delicious piece of chocolate.”

You get the idea…

You can adopt any new habit whenever you want…you just have to set your mind to it.

Now, in order to “stay with the program,” and continue to build favorable habits, it’s always a good idea to…

Start small…start SMART!

One of the concepts of goal-setting that has become increasingly popular over the past few years is the SMART acronym. Basically, in order to successfully reach objectives, they have to be: Dreamers imagine themselves reaching their goals with one giant leap, while doers realize the road to success is comprised of smaller, gradual steps.

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound

Now, I believe the Attainable part is probably the most important part of any SMART goal.

“There is no greater mistake than to try to leap an abyss in two jumps.”
—David Lloyd George

While they should still be challenging, goals should be set with realistic expectations in mind, or they’ll end up being just another source of frustration and disappointment.

Also, you should focus on a single specific behavior at a time, and avoid having too much on your plate at any given time.

Keep things simple and not overly ambitious.

Especially since…

Staying motivated can be tricky

Staying motivated is extremely important, particularly when building new habits.

Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard Business School, discovered the forces that destroy motivation after studying hundreds of employees at over half a dozen major companies.

She “discovered” a simple, but highly effective motivational tool: keeping a daily journal.

Doing meaningful work is one of the biggest drivers of motivation.

“Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.”
—Unknown

It’s been proven to be more important than any monetary reward, shockingly enough. And the trick to creating meaning in even the most mundane is progress.

You deal with setbacks and negativity as part of your daily life. However, by keeping a daily chronicle of progress towards your goals, you’ll be able to reflect on the positives, however small, which will elicit feelings of accomplishment and fulfilment.

Here’s an idea: why not think of these feelings as the reward within a new Habit Loop in order to become a more productive person?

To stay motivated, record your progress consistently.

“People often say motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing—that’s why we recommend it daily.”
—Zig Ziglar

The most effective mode of journaling is to recollect and capture what you achieved over the course of your day. These are your trophies. Hang ‘em up to admire!

To sum things up…

I’d like to recap some of the key points we’ve covered here today:

Humans are creatures of habit and therefore hardwired to resist change.
To defeat our human nature and achieve our goals, we need to replace harmful habits with good ones.
New habits are formed through the Habit Loop: the cue, the reward, and the routine.
The changes you wish to make to your behavior should be simple and attainable.
Tracking your progress through a journal will help you stay motivated.

We all have dreams and aspirations, and making them a reality is just a matter of plotting a specific course and using every available resource to stay on it.

Turn yourself into a “doer,” or your dreams will end up in the sewer

Hey, the world is your oyster! Doers and dreamers are not that different from each other; they are both driven by a genuine desire to make a change.

YOU must decide if you’re a dreamer—perfectly content with fantasizing about the treasures hidden all over the globe, but never actually setting sail to find them…

Or a doer—looking to get more out of life, and willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means venturing into unknown territories and facing seemingly unbeatable odds.

Here’s the thing…

A dreamer’s ship will end up dead in the water, while a doer will harness the power of the wind to sail smoothly towards success..

The clock is ticking!

In a few more days, this week will be over.

Then, before you know it, this month will be done with.

And next thing you know, this year will zip by even faster than last year.

Come December 31st…

You’ll be either celebrating some big accomplishments or looking back at another year of mediocre results, without a whole lot to brag about, still hoping next year will be better.

Unfortunately, most people will be in the latter camp.

Because as the old adage goes…

If ‘ya keep doing the same thing over and over again, you’ll keep gettin’ the same results.

So, the big question is…

What are you going to DO differently this year, starting RIGHT NOW, that will make this year bigger, better, and much more profitable than ever before?

Your answer will dictate what you do…and how today, this week, this month and the rest of the year will turn out for you.

Here’s to your success…anchors aweigh!

Sincerely,