New Year, New You… How will you make 2007 different?
- first published in Portslade Page

The Christmas and New Year festivities are over for another year and as always you are left with a few extra pounds around the middle and a few less in the bank! You may be feeling sluggish and strapped for cash but from the comfort of your armchair you decide with gusto and energy that you are really going to make some changes this year. You decide on your New Year’s Resolutions; to lose weight, go to the gym, quit smoking, change jobs or finally take up a new hobby and you feel positive and determined. But how many of you will actually stick to them, how long will it be before you are lighting up another cigarette or letting the gym memberships sit unused in a drawer?

The key to keeping New Year Resolutions is to set achievable goals and just as importantly to work out how you will reach them, what do you need to do to make them happen and what may hold you back. But even before that you need to take a look at where you are right now and accept yourself and your situation as it is. Making changes in life can be hard enough when you feel good about yourself, so when you are already giving yourself a hard time a New Years Resolution will not only be the first thing to go but also another stick to beat yourself up with.

So before you decide on your resolution, start thinking about yourself. List all your good qualities, what you have achieved so far, what you are good at, why people love you etc. If you struggle why not ask a trusted friend or family member, they will always see qualities in you that you do not recognise yourself. Once you have done this you should hopefully start to see what a great person you already are and start to like and love yourself a little more. From this starting point you should see that your resolutions are more like enhancements to you and your life, rather than being the 1 thing you hope will make everything else in your life better, which is too much pressure and not realistic. Once you start to love and appreciate yourself and your qualities you will realise that you deserve to put time and effort into your new goals as it’s all about you.

A part of loving yourself is learning to be honest with yourself. Think carefully about your resolution, is it your goal or are you setting it to please someone else? If you decide to lose weight because it will make you feel better about yourself, stop and think about the reasons you have put weight on, what real issue could this be hiding? So be true to yourself and do what’s best for you because you deserve it!

Once you have decided on your resolution follow this 5 step process to make it real:

1. Be specific by using What, Why and How as your prompts. Avoid just saying “I want to lose weight”, replace it with “I want to lose 14lbs to fit into my size X clothes by going to the gym 3 times a week”
2. Make sure you can measure your progress, what is your target, how will you know when you have reached it?
3. In order to succeed your goal has to be achievable, it needs to stretch you to help you grow and develop but it cannot be so far out of reach that you don’t have the ability or commitment to make it happen. Set yourself to lose 1lb this week, and then next week another 2.
4. Your goal needs to be realistic, there is no point saying that you will never eat cakes and biscuits again if they are your favorite foods. You can agree to cut them down and replace them with fruit, this way you will have more chance to succeed
5. And finally all goals needs to have a timeframe otherwise they would go on for ever and you will not have a clear target to work towards. If it is a long term goal break it down into shorter time periods to keep you on track and motivated.

Your next step is to create a simple plan of action of how you are going to set your goal in motion, when are you going to start and what are you going to do first.

Once you have started, be flexible and don’t despair if you lose your way, be kind to yourself and start again. And don’t forget to keep rewarding yourself throughout the process, every step forward is an achievement and a way of showing how much you love and care for yourself.