New Year, New You

New Year, New You?

Ah, January. Over 40% of us create new year’s resolutions. We make a commitment to transform our lives, get in shape, read more, eat better, spend time on what really matters, and of course, promote world peace. Unfortunately, it is estimated that only 8% of those who make resolutions actually feel successful in achieving their goals. Why? You can thank your brain.

Most people get stuck because they can’t figure out how they’re going to accomplish their goals. Thankfully, you don’t have to know how. That’s not the way your brain works. If you have a clear picture of your goal and visualize it, your brain will work backward to find ways to make it happen.

To create this clear picture, we have to reframe the idea of “new year, new you” away from the expectation of an instant, massive lifestyle change to a daily commitment to training our brains to make decisions based on our true beliefs and values – our core.

Now don’t worry, I’m not asking you to hit the gym and do a hundred crunches or hold a plank for five minutes straight…I’m asking you, “What do you want to be your driving motivations for the way you live your life?”

Get Started

• Identify your core values and beliefs
• Write them down
• Make deliberate choices
• Give yourself a break – take care of your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health.

Know that hitting the reset button requires resilience, courage and determination. You’ll need to take risks to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and go after what you really want.

I must have written down my core beliefs and values at some time, but time and circumstances have altered them, so I decided to go through the exercise again. Here are some of mine:

• I believe in finding joy in life, whether it’s a good laugh with a friend or taking my dogs for a walk.
• I believe that I am responsible for my choices and actions, and that I have the power to choose how I handle my life. I’m responsible for my own happiness.
• I believe that I can find and hold onto the good in myself and help other people find and be inspired by the good in themselves.
• I believe I should be gentle with myself, give myself a break, and give myself time to learn, change, and grow without beating myself up.

I just finished reading Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness by Dr. Rick Hanson, and he explains that “our brains actually learn to focus on the positive when we make it a habit to focus on moments of pleasure by taking them into ourselves deeply. We can develop a core of well-being that’s harder and harder to shake over time.”

And because our brain prefers the familiar, the more we practice having a positive mindset, focusing on those moments of pleasure, the easier it becomes. Try this strategy for 7 days. If by the end of the week you don’t feel stronger, more resilient, and more grateful, I’ll give you permission to be unhappy.

Make time to own your core. It brings a great sense of peace knowing you’re making choices because of what you believe instead of reacting to other people and situations. In turn, you will see your resilience muscle start to grow.

– Anne