Change is hard. Really hard.<\/p>\n
How many resolutions have you set that never made it past February? If the number is big, you\u2019re not alone. Research has suggested that while 40% of Americans make New Year\u2019s resolutions, only 8% of those resolutions are actually achieved.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Because resolutions rely on motivation.<\/p>\n
Motivation doesn\u2019t work.<\/strong><\/p>\n Motivation is based on emotion and emotion is unreliable. Not that motivation is bad. In fact, it\u2019s great when you can get it. It\u2019s just not something that serves as a good foundation for lasting change.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, we often can\u2019t control things that impact our motivation. What happens when you lose a client, have relationship issues, get a new and unreasonably demanding boss, or need to care for a parent in failing health? These, and thousands of other things, affect your feelings. They tend to bring down your levels of enthusiasm and energy. And when we feel down, motivation goes down. When motivation goes down, \u2018I\u2019ll do it tomorrow\u2019 becomes all too easy.<\/p>\n This is when resolutions and commitments waiver and often fail. What\u2019s worse is that repeated unsuccessful attempts to\u00a0change work against us by lowering our self-confidence and our belief in our self-control. We blame ourselves for our lack of progress and we go out looking for things that will motivate us.\u00a0But it\u2019s the strategy of relying on motivation that got us into trouble in the first place.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve tried to change and have consistently failed, the issue isn\u2019t you\u2026 it\u2019s your strategy.<\/p>\n Forming new habits is the key.<\/strong><\/p>\n As actions (resolutions) start to become habit, the emotion and our focus on\u00a0them naturally wanes. This is actually a good thing because habits don\u2019t rely on motivation or thinking things through. It\u2019s why we can drive while our mind is elsewhere. Habits are automatic.<\/p>\n And forming habits is the key to long-lasting change.<\/p>\n Stephen Guise (Mini-Habits<\/em>) suggests that the key is to set your objectives \u2018stupidly small\u2019 \u2013 so small that resistance to doing it is minimal and your chance of success is high. They\u00a0should be so small that it takes no more than 5-10 minutes (or 3-5 minutes if needed) to accomplish. Take that new habit you want to form and break it down to super small mini-habits to get you started.<\/p>\n This approach was backed by a classic Stanford University study that focused on kids who had trouble with math. One group was instructed to set small math goals, while a second group set long-term goals. The first group accurately solved 80% of the problems. The second group correctly solved only 40%.<\/p>\n The good news is that habits are malleable throughout our life so it’s never too late to improve something for the better.<\/p>\nHow do we form habits?<\/h2>\n
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The Benefits of Taking This Small Mini-Habits Approach<\/h2>\n
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Other Habit-Formation Tips<\/h2>\n
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