You can achieve your New Year’s Resolutions. Just make them easier.
Written by Alex Schwartz, Director of Marketing, Midtown Athletic Clubs
I want six pack abs. Throw in those v shaped lines on either side, too.
I know achieving this goal means going to the club as often as I currently order delivery and ordering delivery as often as I currently go to the club. This switch amounts to a fundamental change in my daily habits that I need to sustain over a long period of time for even a small chance of success. But it’s New Year’s resolution season, which means now is as good a time as any to start my journey towards visible abdominals.
Now comes the choice that will determine whether I am successful—what, exactly should my resolution be? If you are like me, your instinct (and what you did in previous years) is to aim high. Gym every day. Healthy eating for every meal. But research suggests that might not actually be the best approach.
In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg writes about research suggesting that smaller, easier, and achievable resolutions are the most likely to lead to consistent behavior changes. One example he gives, which I plan to follow, is not to make your resolution something you are unlikely to achieve, such as going to the club every day, but instead something small and doable, like to put on your tennis shoes every day. That small step will often give you enough momentum to make it to the club, and when it doesn’t, no harm done because you’re still on track to achieve your resolution just by putting on the shoes.
The other benefit of simple goal setting is that failure is easy to recover from. With a lofty goal, your first failure tends to be highly discouraging, and every subsequent failure just builds the wall between you and your goal higher and higher. When your resolution is only to put on your tennis shoes, even if you fail, your next win is waiting for you just beside the doormat.
So this year, to get six pack abs, my New Year’s resolution is to put on my tennis shoes every day, but maybe not every every day.
Wish me luck.