Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, They're
Speaker 1: brain stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. Thirty percent of us
Speaker 1: who make New Year's resolutions break them by the end
Speaker 1: of January, and beyond that, only of everyone who makes
Speaker 1: a resolution will see it through to completion. Are you
Speaker 1: part of to make resolutions only to find you've given
Speaker 1: up before you ever really got started. Let's break down
Speaker 1: how that happens. One of the most common reasons we
Speaker 1: break our New Year's resolutions is that we get a
Speaker 1: little overzealous when we make them. Basically, we overcommit by
Speaker 1: making too many resolutions, and as a result, forty percent
Speaker 1: of us wind up blaming our busy schedules for our
Speaker 1: lack of follow through. Research shows that it's easier to
Speaker 1: keep just one resolution than several. Another part of the
Speaker 1: problem is that we often make the wrong resolution, or
Speaker 1: more than one wrong resolution is the case, Maybe the
Speaker 1: key to successful goal making is to not be hasty
Speaker 1: when you do it. Make resolutions that you've thought through
Speaker 1: and are willing to dedicate your time and enter. G two.
Speaker 1: Don't make a resolution on the fly after too many
Speaker 1: toasts at a New Year's party. If you're not committed
Speaker 1: to your goal. The odds of staying motivated are not
Speaker 1: in your favor, but hey, who are we kidding? It
Speaker 1: can be difficult to stay motivated even when you've chosen
Speaker 1: a single, well reasoned goal. Many of us lack motivation
Speaker 1: and accountability despite our best intentions. Remove one easy way
Speaker 1: out by sharing your plans with family and friends. The
Speaker 1: more who know your goal, the less likely you'll be
Speaker 1: to talk yourself out of sticking with your new habits.
Speaker 1: And despite what you might have heard, it can take
Speaker 1: longer than just twenty one days for a lot of
Speaker 1: us to change a habit. One so that he found
Speaker 1: it took anywhere between eighteen and two hundred and forty
Speaker 1: five days. Sharing your goals with those close to you
Speaker 1: not only adds accountability, which many of us need to
Speaker 1: motivate ourselves, but also gives you a support system. In
Speaker 1: the end, whether or not we keep our New Year's
Speaker 1: resolutions comes down to whether or not we give ourselves
Speaker 1: a resolution. We can stick to resolutions that are small
Speaker 1: in scope and involves specific and realistic goals, help, especially
Speaker 1: for those of us who make goals like get in shape,
Speaker 1: which is frequently the most made resolution in America. Without
Speaker 1: then planning how will go about achieving that goal. We
Speaker 1: need to be more specific and realistic with ourselves, give
Speaker 1: ourselves deadlines and track our progress. Yes, promising yourself that
Speaker 1: this is the year you'll lose weight is a great goal,
Speaker 1: but how will you do it? More than thirty percent
Speaker 1: of us who make this new year's resolution break it.
Speaker 1: If you want to stack the odds, define what your
Speaker 1: specific weight loss goals are and give yourself a deadline
Speaker 1: within which to meet those goals. Make the goal reasonable
Speaker 1: enough that you're not intimidated by it, and the deadline
Speaker 1: realistic too. Resolved to lose ten pounds by Memorial Day
Speaker 1: and keep yourself honest with weekly progress reports. If you
Speaker 1: want to get in shape, make it your resolution to,
Speaker 1: for instance, always take the stairs. It's a good start.
Speaker 1: Keep a journal of your progress, the good and the bad,
Speaker 1: including those days when you took the elevator because you
Speaker 1: were running late. To help keep yourself focused and on task,
Speaker 1: digital tracking devices can help, but only if you actually
Speaker 1: sit down and look at all that data they collect.
Speaker 1: Progress reports are a good way to keep yourself motivated
Speaker 1: and moving in the right direction towards your goal without them,
Speaker 1: and sometimes despite them, we can become discouraged, and when
Speaker 1: we're discouraged, we tend to give up on the goal.
Speaker 1: But hey, a bit of good news. Our researchers have
Speaker 1: found that a few days off from time to time
Speaker 1: doesn't have much, if any effect on overall success. Instead
Speaker 1: of giving up on your goal when you have a setback,
Speaker 1: take things one day at a time. Researchers are also
Speaker 1: examining a phenomenon called decision fatigue that plays a part
Speaker 1: in how likely we are to keep resolutions. The more decisions,
Speaker 1: even small ones, that you have to make in a day,
Speaker 1: including deciding to go for a walk or run, selecting
Speaker 1: healthy foods, and putting away cash for a rainy day,
Speaker 1: the more depleted your willpower and self control will be
Speaker 1: as the day wears on. So think about how you
Speaker 1: can incorporate small steps to your goal in your daily
Speaker 1: life so they'll be automatic and require little or no
Speaker 1: decision effort. Making tough decisions related to your resolution early
Speaker 1: in the day, for example, get your workout in earlier,
Speaker 1: pay bills and handle finances before you leave work could
Speaker 1: help and share a successful outcome. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Maria Tremarchi and produced by Tristan McNeil. By the way,
Speaker 1: if you're listening on the day this publishes Happy New Year,
Speaker 1: and of course, for lots more on this and other
Speaker 1: psychological topics, visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot
Speaker 1: com m HM