A Tip on Resolutions by Devon Sasser - Lite Lessons #6

Devon will be documenting her experience as she goes through our body transformation package! Stay tuned for her results and story! Go Devon!!! This is her sixth "Lite Lesson"

Welcome back everyone. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and are in for a better 2012. It’s a new year, a clean slate, another opportunity to accomplish overlooked goals from 2011.

By now millions of people have made New Year’s resolutions, including myself. And I bet some people have already broken those resolutions. Again, I’m included. The problem with resolutions is that we try to make them in one grand swoop.

For example, one of your resolutions might be to stop smoking. By declaring, “I will quit smoking by the end of this year” involves a daunting task, which may seem impossible to even start. Already, this resolution has set you up for disappointments.

Yes, some people are “all or nothing” types, but the majority of us probably need some type of incentive, based steps to get us there. Therefore, instead of, “I will quit smoking by the end of this year”; state “I will cut down from 2 packs a day to one pack for an entire week”. Now the affirmation doesn’t seem so overwhelming. Focus on completing that first week. Once accomplished, pat yourself on the back, and adjust the “resolution” to go a step further. If you slip up, don’t beat yourself up; remember you can start over at any time.

I remember when I first started seeing a therapist for my depression, I felt so hopeless about my life. I had all of these “things” I wanted fixed, in order to be happy again. There were so many I literally could not concentrate or fathom the idea of making any of these changes.

The bottom line was that I just wanted to feel better. So before I left my therapist’s office, she made me decide on one small change that would make me feel better that week. I chose to drink 8 glasses of water a day.

Seems a little ridiculous, I know. Water would not magically give me a new job or a date with a guy, but it would keep me from feeling so sluggish, rid my headaches, and hopefully make me feel a little better. Once, I achieved this menial step I had the confidence to make another small change forward.

So grab those New Year’s resolution lists, and see if you can break them down into smaller steps. If one of those resolutions is to go to the gym, first start by packing your gym clothes the night before. Next, actually drive to the gym after work. You might find that once you park, you will want to go in. And besides, Cyclelates validates parking for one hour!