5 Secrets for Making Your New Year’s Resolution Work for You

The great thing about a new year is that it gives us a sense of hope that we can live our lives anew, start over again, and do things better.  New Year's Resolutions are useful tools for remaking ourselves.  Our resolutions often include improving habits related to weight, health, exercise, work, and business.  However, many people fail at their New Year’s resolutions.  Oftentimes, our failure to stick to our New Year’s resolution is due to a lack of planning, strategy, and motivation.

Despite the discouraging statistics, a “gifted” few will actually succeed in changing their habits and improving their lifestyle for good.

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.”  -- Mark Twain

Now to coax your habit downstairs, here are 5 steps for making your New Year’s resolution work for you:

1. Focus on one habit or skill at a time.  This ensures that you can remain focused and are able to devote the required time and energy to succeed.  The key is to focus all your energy on creating or changing just one habit at a time.  Resist the temptation to do multiple habits at once.  Otherwise, you are going lose your focus and enthusiasm.
   
   Another thing to remember is, don’t change focus too soon.  Wait until the habit is firmly ingrained in you before tackling a new one.  Unless the habit has been firmly ingrained, trying to form a new habit will be ineffective, and therefore, a complete waste of time.  How long before the new habit can be firmly ingrained?  Well, it depends on how consistent you are and how badly you want it.  As a rule of thumb, stick to this habit for at least 21 consecutive days.
   
2. Introduce changes gradually.  Take baby steps.  Smaller behavioral changes are less overwhelming and are easier to implement.  Remember, a habit must be “coaxed downstairs a step at a time.”  You cannot form a new habit overnight.  Later on, when you are comfortable with the minor changes, leverage them for a major behavioral change.
   
3. Try to make it fun and more interesting.  It will seem less like work!  Reward yourself for sticking to your resolution or build a social life around it to make it more interesting.  Get a buddy to work with so you can help each other stay on track.  It’s more fun when you have someone to share your goals with rather than going through it alone.
   
4. Start with the easy one’s first so you can ease into the new habit or skill.  One of the best ways to ensure the success of your new year’s resolution is by starting with an easy goal.  Save the hard tasks for later when you’ve gotten used to creating meaningful changes in your life.  For the time being, do something that’s easy for you to do consistently until it is ingrained.  What you need right now is to gain a sense of accomplishment to encourage you to keep on with your goal.  Making your resolution super easy at the start is one of the surest ways to ensure success.
   
5. Seek support from relatives, friends, and colleagues.  Find people who are supportive about your resolutions and stay away from non-supportive people!  Who can provide support?  A parent, spouse, close friend, or even your boss can give you the support you need.

Better still; join a support group that fosters an atmosphere conducive to free exchange of ideas where like-minded people can help each other out.

The importance of support cannot be overstated.  This is why people who participate in formal productivity and time management programs -- like the Work-Smart Online Mentoring Program -- often become highly productive in both their personal and their business life as well. 

Mentor-led support groups are an action-oriented process that effectively reinforces behavioral changes.  With the direction and encouragement of a mentor, you are able to gain a solid footing in accomplishing your New Year's goals and objectives.

The Work-Smart Online Mentoring Program is a comprehensive, step-by-step blueprint for becoming and remaining super productive.  This three-week blended learning program (weekly online mentoring sessions plus daily productivity briefings) is designed to help you deal more effectively with the mechanics of becoming highly-productive and will help you successfully establish an action plan that produces long-term sustainable results.