New Year Resolutions

New Year Resolutions – Let’s not set ourselves up to fail in the first few days!

A message from our founding Partner Michelle McArthur-Morgan

Like so many others, in years gone past, I have set myself three, four and sometimes five New Year Resolutions, only to find that before January was out, I had forgotten all about them.

Why do the majority of New Year’s resolutions never see the 31^st of January?

The answer lies in neuroscience……….

We set too many resolutions and try to focus on too many big changes at the same time, we know from neuroscience that although the brain is a very powerful organ it has limited capacity and it is very easy to overload
We do not spend enough time thinking about why we want to make a change, what difference will it make, how will we benefit and what would be the consequences of not making the change?
We set unrealistic expectations of ourselves, that doesn’t take into account all of the other things which we still need to do
We don’t break the resolution down into manageable chunks and plan our reward for success

So let’s get 2022 off to an awesome start

Set yourself just one New Year resolution
Be sure it is something you really want to achieve, you are intrinsically motivated to succeed and that you know exactly how it will benefit you
Break the resolution down into small steps and celebrate your wins with a small reward. The brain prefers instant rewards and will remain motivated by celebrating the small wins, rather than having to wait in anticipation of the big win at the end
Tell your family, friends, colleagues about your resolution
Create reminders and prompts to help maintain your focus on the resolution
Spend time visualising and thinking about the resolution, see yourself having succeeded, just a few minutes each day
Practise often
Be kind to yourself, if you get your resolution wrong or forget about it one time, don’t be hard on yourself, show yourself some compassion and start again the next day