Tips for keeping your New Year’s resolutions

January is one of my favorite months because it’s the time for making New Year’s resolutions. If there’s anything I’m good at, it’s resolving to do better at all of the things I’ve been doing poorly at. I’ve noticed I’m not alone in this regard: I know a whole lot of people who have made resolutions for 2009.

Like a lot of other people, I’ve made New Year’s resolutions in previous years that haven’t survived the first week. Determined to do better this year, I’ve been doing a little research into ways to stay motivated and actually reach a few of the goals I’ve set. During the process I stumbled across a website called The Power of Less that offered nine suggestions for forming positive new habits in 30 days. I include them here for your consideration, along with a little commentary from myself.

1. Only one habit. While you might have 3-5 habits you want to form, you’ll decrease your effectiveness if you try to do more than one at a time. Choose just ONE habit to focus on for one month. You can do the other habits in subsequent months.

This one is tough for me, because I tend to try to drastically overhaul my life all at once. I speak from experience when I say this seldom works.

2. Start small. Just commit to 10 minutes a day. This might sound too easy, but you will almost guarantee success if you do this. You can increase later.

This is excellent advice for anyone attempting to incorporate activities such as prayer or exercise into their daily routine.

3. Commit publicly. Join the forum on thepowerofless.com, introduce yourself, and post the habit you’ll be forming. Also tell as many people as
possible — friends, family, coworkers — and post on your blog, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter or other service.

Nothing works like a little peer pressure when it comes to helping us keep commitments.

4. Write your plan. Write out exactly what habit you’ll be forming, when you start, what time during the day you’ll be doing it, rewards you might give yourself, how you’ll overcome any potential obstacles. Write it down to succeed!

Someone once said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” How true. It’s a lot easier to stick to the plan when you’ve got it in writing.

5. Find a trigger. Find something you already do consistently every day — wake up, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, shower, arrive at work, have lunch, have dinner, anything — and tie your new habit to this trigger. Do it every day RIGHT AFTER this trigger.

6. Be consistent. Do not miss a day. Try to get a streak going — 30 straight days! If you miss a day, keep going, but the more consistent you are, the more likely the habit will stick.

7. Report progress. Every day, report your progress on the Challenge forum’s daily thread.

You don’t necessarily have to join an online group: find a friend or mentor to hold you accountable. Accountability is a powerful tool. Too bad most of us run from it.

8. Motivate. Give yourself rewards each week. In fact, give yourself a reward each of the first few days, and then weekly after that.

9. Be positive. Keep a positive attitude throughout the entire challenge to be successful. If you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, squash them like a bug! And replace them with positive thoughts. It really works.

Think about the multitudes of negative people who inhabit this planet. Most of them are miserable. Make sure you’re not one of them.