Don't let your New Year's resolutions end like The Poseidon Adventure

I, like many filmgoers, love a disaster movie. Both the 1972 original and the 2005 remake of The Poseidon Adventure took place on New Year’s Eve. I think it’s fair to say that the passenger’s did not enjoy the celebration. Many, in fact, did not survive to keep their New Year’s resolutions. Or, more likely, survive to fail at their New Year’s resolutions. As the original movie poster exclaimed: “Hell, upside down.” It’s tough to make changes in life—especially changes that stick for the long term. Just ask anyone who’s tried to quit smoking: it’s much easier to stop smoking cigarettes for a week than it is to quit forever. And it’s not particularly easy to quit for a week, come to think of it.

So as many of us make resolutions at this time of year, far, far fewer of us will have been successful in our changes as we look back a year from now. Is there anything that can be done to increase the chances of success? The answer is a resounding yes.

1. Make your goal reasonable and attainable. Perhaps your goal is to eat healthier. This is a very common goal and certainly something that people are successful at achieving. However, it is probably not reasonable to resolve to only eat vegan starting January 1 if you don’t eat any vegetables currently. Perhaps that is a long-term goal. But, at least in the short term, set yourself a goal that you can actually achieve. For example, resolving to eat vegetables five times a week. As you achieve this goal you can gradually expand your goal until the changes start to feel routine. At that point going entirely vegan might be realistic.
2. Make your goal measurable and concrete. This is loosely related to the above point. “I’m going to get in shape” is a great goal, but how will you measure success? A better resolution might be “I’m going to go to the gym four days a week.” This goal is easily measureable and you will be able to easily evaluate success (or failure).
3. Reward yourself for success. Parents frequently use reward systems with children, and for good reason. They work. So, if your goal is to quit smoking, reward yourself for each smoke-free day. Rewarding yourself with food may not be a good idea for any number of reasons, but perhaps a trip to a movie or a new clothing item after three days. The reward will have more meaning if it is something you wouldn’t normally allow yourself. You also might consider adding some sort of “punishment” if you fail to achieve your goal. For example, if you smoke a cigarette perhaps you are not allowed to watch TV that day. These sorts of behavior reinforcements can be very effective.
4. Speaking of slip ups, don’t be too hard on yourself if you make one. One of the reasons people find it very hard to succeed at their goal is that they make one or two mistakes and mark the whole endeavor a failure. If your goal is to exercise four days a week and you only make three tell yourself “I’ll do better next week.” It’s best to make slow, sustainable progress than to throw away the entire goal because of a small setback or failure.

If you keep these simple ideas in mind, your resolution may not go down like the Poseidon.