New Year's Resolutions - Keeping Them This Year

New Year's Resolutions -
Keeping Them This Year

Most of you know I am a big planner.  I believe you must "plan your work and work your plan!"  This isn't the typical advice you've seen before about keeping your New Year's resolutions! According to Caroline Adams Miller on psychologytoday.com, where happiness and goal setting come together is the science of goal accomplishment.

Read on for what everyone should know about making those resolutions a reality this year.

• Start at your happy place. A study showed that success comes after positive emotions outweigh negative ones by three to one.
• Half of our happiness comes from what we think and do. Put yourself in a positive state of mind at all times.
• Avoid setting too many goals of will power at one time. Will power gets used up in a day when we call on it many times to overcome temptation.
• Behavior is contagious. Limit time with people who behave opposite of your goal. Don't let others squelch your success.
• Surround yourself with positive cues that will help you succeed. An example would be to change your computer passwords to your goal.
• Get out of your comfort zone and do something difficult. The things that people are most proud of are the things that were the worst to do.
• Risk it. People typically don't regret what they tried and failed at, but they do regret not trying at all.
• For the ladies: Get your own goals and make the time to achieve them. Putting everyone else first doesn't work for achieving your own personal goals.
• Create an agreement with yourself on how you'll handle a certain scenario you'll likely encounter during your day. You've already decided what to do and you can move on right away.
• Be sure you've got goals. Wake up a happier person knowing what your short term and long term goals are and knowing you're working toward them.