It's that time of year when you think about making a New Year's Resolution.
Most people make resolutions like stop smoking or eat healthier or exercise more.
These are all activities and for many people, they are actual negative experiences.
To make resolutions that you can stick to, make them about positive outcomes like, I want to be able to live long enough to see my grandkids grow up, or I want to be fit enough to take long hikes in the mountains that you love so much.
By making a resolution about a positive outcome vs a specific activity that you dread and have to force yourself to do, two things can happen. 1. You're not locked into a specific activity and throughout the year you can potentially find other ways to achieve your goal, and 2. If you do have to do an activity that you hate or dread, then by having a positive outcome as the goal, you focus on that positive experience and not the negative task.
So for example, let's say you are out at dinner with some friends and everyone wants to order dessert, don't focus on the negative and think, I'll deny myself this piece of cake and thereby making that a negative experience. Instead, I want to lose weight so I can have the stamina to enjoy more outdoor activities with my friends and family so I'll forgo the cake but I can still enjoy the time at dinner with my friends.
Same for exercising. I personally hate the monotony of exercising. I had to learn to tell myself that I didn't have to drag myself off the couch a few times a week and do some very monotonous exercise, but rather, remind myself that I'd like to be healthy enough to continue to enjoy traveling well into my retirement. And secondly, exercising 5 days a week wasn't the only solution to my goal. A combination of eating a little healthier and exercising maybe just 2-3 times a week would allow me to accomplish my goal.
So, if you've struggled with sticking to your New Year's resolution, instead of resolving to doing some behavior that you hate, but instead resolve to some positive outcome. Then think of numerous ways you can achieve that resolution. And even when you have to do that behavior that you hate, don't think about it as a negative experience, but focus on the positive outcome you are working toward.
