It’s January first. Gyms around the country are packed to the brim, juice stores are rapidly selling out of their cleanse packages and yoga/meditation classes are filled with stressed-out moms who claim this will be the year they finally take a breath. Everyone knows while resolutions are enthusiastically fulfilled at the beginning of January, by the end of the month you fall back into old habits and excuses. By mid-February, you have forgotten all about your broken commitments.
It is understandably up for question if creating a habit of consistent, healthy change is even possible. BJ Fogg, founder of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab, has some interesting inputs on how to successfully make, and more importantly, keep a New Year’s resolution.
He reasons big changes are the hardest to adapt to, while tiny adjustments that bring joy tend to work the best. Fogg describes a four-step process of how to best develop and consistently fulfill a resolution, which he has successfully tested on 40,000 people at Stanford University. According to Fogg, you want to pick a behavior you want to do rather than one you feel obligated to do, making sure this change is a small and simple one. With your achievable goal on-hand, identify a way to reliably trigger the behavior. The third step is implementing the behavior. After you have finally put your goal into practice, you should celebrate every time you do your new habit so your brain can associate it with positive feelings.
When you think about it, this makes plenty of sense. We tend to set these ridiculously unrealistic expectations for ourselves because we believe just because it’s a new year, our way of life will automatically change. In reality, we will most likely still have the same responsibilities to deal with. Without changing your daily responsibilities, it’s exceptionally hard to also change your habits — especially if it’s something as substantial as finding time for the gym a couple of hours a day.
What this alternative theory suggests is finding an easier, more enjoyable option can be a lot easier to hold onto. For example, committing to something like a 30-minute jog on the treadmill three times a week to break up a period of working is far more realistic than spending a significant amount of time at the gym throughout the week.
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In conclusion, give yourself a break because contrary to your Instagram caption, a new year most likely does not mean a new you. That’s not to say New Year’s resolutions should be thrown out the door. It’s always a positive thing to better yourself and become the best you possible. Just remember every result takes time and it takes effort to change a habit. You just came one step closer to not being a child with lung cancer.
Olivia Schaffer ([email protected]) is a freshman intending to major in journalism.
