Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to practice your New Year's resolutions before
Speaker 1: the new year begins. By trying your resolutions out now
Speaker 1: and troubleshooting problems, you increase the chances that you'll feel
Speaker 1: like a pro when New Year's rolls around. So there's
Speaker 1: a funny prayer attributed to Saint Augustine, Lord, grant me
Speaker 1: chastity and countenance, But not yet. I think many of
Speaker 1: us approach New Year's resolutions the same way. Since we
Speaker 1: intend to eat healthily come January first, well, it's okay
Speaker 1: to indulge a lot over the holidays. We plan to
Speaker 1: start waking up early to exercise in the new years,
Speaker 1: so best to sleep in now so we're you know,
Speaker 1: rested for all that exercise that's going to take place.
Speaker 1: But believe it or not, eating lots of desserts now
Speaker 1: will not make it easier to transition to egg white
Speaker 1: omelets in January. Nor will hitting snooze now set you
Speaker 1: up for a sustainable early morning exercise routine in the
Speaker 1: new year. You are not going to be a different
Speaker 1: person in the new Year, you are not going to
Speaker 1: have new fonts of willpower or new troubleshooting capabilities. Instead,
Speaker 1: you can set yourself up for success with your New
Speaker 1: Year's resolutions by practicing those habits now. Think about how
Speaker 1: basketball players do shooting drills right before a game begins,
Speaker 1: and how baseball players throw and catch during their pregame
Speaker 1: warm up. The athletes are getting in the groove so
Speaker 1: that once play begins they're ready to play at their best.
Speaker 1: In a similar vein whatever your intended habit is, start
Speaker 1: practicing it now so that you're ready to succeed and
Speaker 1: aren't starting from zero on January first. You have a
Speaker 1: bit of momentum. You also have a sense of what
Speaker 1: might go wrong, so you can make adjustments. For example,
Speaker 1: it may take a few attempts to figure out what
Speaker 1: time you need to get up to exercise before work,
Speaker 1: taking into account travel time to and from the gym
Speaker 1: and time for showering. Or if you've resolved to have
Speaker 1: family dinners several nights each week, it may take a
Speaker 1: little trial and error to figure out when together at
Speaker 1: the table, considering everyone's afternoons and their bedtimes. You may
Speaker 1: also want to experiment with when you start cooking and
Speaker 1: your expectations for dinner time behavior. What's your response if
Speaker 1: a kid asks to be excused five minutes after sitting down.
Speaker 1: There are lots of great approaches to family dinner, and
Speaker 1: if you figure out an approach or several approaches that
Speaker 1: work for your family this year, you'll be ready to
Speaker 1: rock family dinners in the new year. If you don't
Speaker 1: practice your resolution before the new year and run into
Speaker 1: issues during the first week of the new year, it's
Speaker 1: easy to get to scouraged and abandon the whole attempt.
Speaker 1: But by practicing your resolutions now, you can work out
Speaker 1: any kinks before it counts, at least in the common
Speaker 1: mental model. You start in a lower stakes model and
Speaker 1: then ramp up, which by the way, is probably how
Speaker 1: New Year's resolutions should start anyway, even if you do
Speaker 1: start them on January one. But that said, I know
Speaker 1: the fresh start effect is strong, so if you are
Speaker 1: hoping to take advantage of this strong start, then do
Speaker 1: your ramp up before like right now, now is always
Speaker 1: a great time to start. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, at to hear from you. You
Speaker 1: can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media dot
Speaker 1: com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.