How is your new years resolution going?

Summary

The article discusses the importance of setting identity-based goals for New Year's resolutions rather than focusing solely on outcome-based goals, emphasizing gradual habit formation and self-compassion.

Abstract

The article encourages readers to shift their approach to New Year's resolutions by adopting identity-based habits rather than setting rigid outcome-based goals. It acknowledges the common struggle of maintaining resolutions like daily intense exercise or quitting sugar cold turkey, suggesting that these extreme changes are often unsustainable due to deeply ingrained habits. The author, who has personal experience with such challenges, advocates for small, consistent steps towards embodying the person one aspires to be, such as reducing sugar intake without complete abstinence and incorporating varied exercises into a routine to build habits without the pressure of immediate improvement or perfection. The article also mentions the development of an app to assist in this process and invites readers to consider their long-term aspirations for personal growth.

Opinions

The author believes that outcome-based goals, especially when drastic, are difficult to achieve and often lead to failure.
Extreme dietary changes, like quitting sugar abruptly, are likely to result in reverting to old patterns.
Exercise habits should be built up gradually to avoid burnout and maintain consistency.
The concept of identity-based goals is presented as a more effective and sustainable approach to personal development.
The author is developing an app to help people vary their exercises and manage their workout routines more effectively.
Self-compassion is key; occasional lapses in new habits are normal and should not be seen as failures.
The article suggests that envisioning a clear image of one's desired future self can guide better daily choices.

Most new years resolutions are outcome based, and often they’re such a large shift from what you’re currently doing

If you’re not enjoying the extra podge on your tummy that you picked up over the holidays, you might have made a goal like “Exercise for an hour every day” or “do 100 crunches every day”. Going from couch potato to these extremes is going to be incredibly difficult. Give yourself some credit if you lasted this long, and give yourself some grace if you found it too tough. Your body isn’t used to it and you’re fighting a massive mental battle every time you chose to do it.

Another example could be if you think you’re eating too much sugar or unhealthy foods. The temptation is to go cold turkey, and after a short period of time it’s likely that you’ll fall back into old patterns.

These examples are all close to my heart as I’ve tried and failed at them many times. The main problem is that we have deeply ingrained habits already built into our life. They’re just not that helpful. I know I have a bad habit where I need to have a sweet treat after eating a meal. As odd as it seems I also have a habit of not exercising. I hate having muscle soreness in my legs, so when I do exercise, my habit is to do anything apart from legs (I know, I know… “never skip leg day”…).

I’m calling these habits. Really they’re choices. They’re just choices that we no longer consciously make.

I recently read a great article talking about creating identity-based goals instead of outcome-based goals.

The gist of it is that your goals should be based on who you want to be rather than an arbitrary goal that you want to achieve.

I want to be someone who is happy and healthy. So I’m going to start measuring my choices against the image of the person I want to be. Would future me make the choice to have a third piece of tiramisu? Probably not, I’ll just have two pieces for now…

It may seem a bit “wishy-washy”, but if you have a clear image in your mind of who you want to become, you can start taking small steps towards that.

I’m cutting down on the amount of sugar I consume, but I’m not going cold turkey. And if I have a day where I eat more sugar, it’s ok because I’ve not broken a streak or “failed” at anything, I’ll just try to do a little better tomorrow.

I’m also trying to exercise a bit more, so I’m doing some weights a few times a week. I’m actually building an app (watch this space) which is helping with this. It gives you a random exercise and amount of reps for each region (back, legs, arms, chest etc). It makes things varied and takes the thought out of it. It also prevents my natural instinct to always try to do better than the last time, since you’ll often have a different exercise or number of reps to do. I’m starting out easy, using light weights and I’m only doing one set. I want to build the habit before I get burned out.

So who do you want to be at the end this year?

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How is your new year's resolution going?

Most new years resolutions are outcome based, and often they’re such a large shift from what you’re currently doing