5 more effective alternatives to New Year’s resolutions

‘Tis the season for new year’s resolutions…

…or not.

Given the choice, I would pick “not.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against committing to change for the better – that’s how I make my living, after all.

It’s just that, as a tool for improvement and change, the broad sweeping flip-the-switch-and-change approach of New Year’s resolutions tends to be a recipe for failure. (Most people are lucky if their resolutions last until the end of January.)

Change is infinitely more likely to happen with repetition and reinforcement than with the single wave of a magic New Year’s wand. In the following posts, I want to offer some alternatives – granular, cumulative, evolutionary approaches to positive change that jive better with how we human critters actually make change that sticks.

Ultimately, the question boils down to what you really want. If you want immediate (if short-lived) gratification, then by all means go with the New Year’s resolution. But if you want to look back at the end of the year and see real change of substance, then take a cumulative approach that gives you the opportunity over and over to get back on the horse and ride.

If your goal is to make your life a better place to live, don’t cheat yourself by relying on the big bang of a New Year’s resolution. More often than not, that has a limited life span, and you’ll find yourself right back where you started next year.

Below are links to posts with five alternatives to New Year’s resolutions

• Give the year a theme
• Make twelve new month’s resolutions
• Do twelve 30-day experiments
• Do a stretch-a-month challenge
• Do twelve ask-and-receive challenges

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