We’re getting close to that time when a lot of us will be considering New Year’s resolutions, but a sizeable number of us may be a little hesitant on that end.
Why?
Because successful resolutions are pretty tough, and the track record shows.
A study published in the late 1980s tracked 200 people who made New Year’s resolutions.
Hearteningly, 77% of the group kept their pledges for a week.
However, the real key is always in the long haul.
Two years passed, and when checking in again, that rate dropped 19%.
“Successful resolvers reported employing significantly more stimulus control, reinforcement, and willpower than the unsuccessful over the two years; social support and interpersonal strategies failed to predict success before six months but did so thereafter,”
However, employing all of those things is still a pretty hard feat.
Not all of us can control our surroundings to the point where we have achieved “stimulus control” for example.
Anyone who has worked in customer services knows there’s no “stimulus control” for an angry high-maintenance customer, or in parents’ case, screaming newborns at 3 a.m.
Especially during this pandemic, life is unpredictable and uncontrollable, to a great degree.
That’s why instead of grand sweeping goals that we often have as resolutions, like losing large amounts of weight, making radical behaviour changes or running marathons, I think much smaller, achievable goals are probably the better alternative.
To use a sports metaphor, I once read in a book by Sam Sheridan, a writer who spent his time documenting what it was like to train with great fighters and coaches, that Angelo Dundee, the legendary trainer of Muhammad Ali, liked to use a process he called “slow teach.”
The idea is that while training a fighter, every step of the way, you set them up for success.
Some coaches don’t even have boxers learning to punch at first. They just focus on very basic footwork. They can step forward and backward without tripping? Great! That’s a high-five.
It’s tiny, incremental changes that create small successes that generate momentum for bigger ones.
Similarly, when an athlete gets in the ring, you most definitely do not pair them against a hardened opponent. You give them a relatively easy fight that you know they can win, and gradually, over time, they become undefeated and rack up enough wins to go for a belt.
Similarly, too many of us immediately try to go for the belt.
Whether it be losing 50 pounds or running 40 kilometres, we often impatiently throw ourselves in the deep end way too fast, get burned out and discouraged, and decide that change is too hard.
Instead, let’s try going for really small steps first.
Don’t think about going for that 10- kilometre run.
Just think about getting out the door.
