The new year is upon us, and if you're like many other people in this world, you have some changes in mind—"resolutions" yousticky-note2 would like to tackle in 2014. Some of the most common New Year's resolutions include losing weight, eating healthier, exercising more, getting a new job, or leaving an old job. The list goes on and often includes goals we failed to achieve the year before.

The idea of tackling our resolutions starts with good intentions, but all too often we come to realize that we might be missing a few key elements of success: strong commitment, a plan, and a sound strategy to motivate us into making our resolutions happen. Another big problem with New Year's resolutions is the scope of the changes we want to make. Many times we tend to overcomit ourselves in ways that are potentially unfeasible. Take a friend of mine, for instance, who had this list of New Year's resolutions last year:

  • Lose 30 pounds
  • Get a promotion at work and get a raise
  • Finish writing my book and get it published
  • Start running three times per week
  • Be nicer to my grumpy neighbor
  • Return all emails within one day
  • Volunteer at the local shelter once a week

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Does her list look anything like yours? There is no question that her goals are awesome, but it's doubtful whether even Superwoman could do all of those things. In addition, some of the goals she set weren't even under her control. Publishing her book would require a publisher to say yes, and getting a promotion would require her boss, and quite possibly her boss's boss, to approve. Quite simply, her list of resolutions were not totally achievable, right?

So how do you tackle your resolutions...

  1. Shrink the change. The trick, I have learned, is to focus on one KEY habit. A KEY habit is one that is central to the way you have been operating and, once changed, will create a chain reaction of change. At the gym I go to, I see people coming all the time with goals about losing weight, eating healthier, getting stronger, losing fat, gaining muscle. All of these goals, though measurable, can be compressed into one resolution: come to the gym more often (5 times a week?). So the idea is to find a task that, if accomplished, will create a chain reaction cialis generic brand that will allow you to achieve your other resolutions.
  2. Envision the result. When I am about to run a marathon or an ultra marathon, several days before the actual event, I picture myself at the finish line. I see myself crossing the finish line and feeling excited about finishing. I've come to realize that this practice, on many occasions, gives me the motivation to keep going. When the day of the race comes, that mental picture takes me all the way to the finish line. In other words, whatever result you want to achieve, picture achieving it in your head a thousand times. Change is easier when you know where you're going and why it's worth it.

All this talk of resolutions and how to stick to them got me thinking about the book Switch by the Heath brothers. They claim that in order to motivate ourselves to do something, we must motivate the elephant and the rider within us.

Picture this: you set the alarm clock to get up at 6am in the morning, then you go to sleep. When the alarm goes off in the morning, you press the snooze bottom again and again. The person that set the alarm clock the night before is the rider (your analytical self), and the person that presses the snooze button again and again is the elephant (your emotional self). So if you really want to get up, you must motivate both your emotional and your analytical sides equally. Next time you set your alarm clock at night, put it out of reach so that when you are woken up, you will have to get up in order to press the snooze button. Pretty simple, right? Now, if only we could apply this method to our New Year's resolutions.

Start by seeing if you can identify one KEY habit to focus on—that one thing that, when changed, will lead to lots of other positive changes and will point you in the direction you want to go. Make sure it's a goal you can accomplish. And don't forget to have a strategy for motivating yourself. If you feel like sharing, let us know what you come up with. Chances are, we'll probably get a good idea of how many of us share our bad habits and the desire to change them.

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