Keeping Those New Years Resolutions

by Brenda on January 18, 2012

Did you make New Years resolutions this year?

And if you did, how are you doing with them?

It’s almost 3 weeks into the new year. Have you abandoned your resolutions already?

This whole idea of keeping or maintaining New Years resolutions is part of a discussion over at Life Well Lived at BlogHer. You can join in here.

I’m joining in and I’m entering the sweepstakes too. So should you.

As women with ADHD, we are especially good at having good intentions and then failing to follow through on them.

New Years resolutions are no different.

We start the new year with hopes of losing weight and keeping our homes clean and organized all year.

We’re excited and can’t wait to get started. We might go out and join a gym or buy a book about organizing.

But somewhere along the way the excitement fades and it becomes just one more thing on our to do list. And one more thing to make us feel bad about ourselves.

There is a way, though, to turn that around. Even if you made resolutions this year that you’ve already broken.

First you need to learn how to make good, achievable resolutions.

“Lose weight” or “keep the house organized” are too vague.

If you weigh 145 lbs on January 1, 2012 and 144.5 lbs on December 31, 2012, do you consider that a success? Yes, you did lose weight, but maybe you were aiming for a little more than half a pound.

Perhaps “lose 10 lbs by the end of the year” is a better goal. Now you have a target.

Next, begin to narrow your focus.

I know how our ADD minds work. We have this syndrome called “I’ve got all the time in the world” syndrome. It usually lasts until you have 24 hours or less to reach your goal when you haven’t started yet.

You can’t start trying to lose 10 lbs by December 31st on December 30th.

What you can do instead is to break down that goal into smaller action steps.

Maybe in January you begin to add more fruits and veggies to your diet and try not to have so many cookies. Then in February you can find ways to add more movement into your life.

When you slip up (and you will) don’t treat it as a complete failure.

You’re human. We all make mistakes and have our own weaknesses.

Just get back on track as soon as you can.

Maybe you could find someone who has the same resolution as you and you can partner up to encourage one another.

Add some small rewards in as you achieve your goals. Don’t wait until you’ve dropped all the weight. If you managed every day for a week to put more fruits and veggies in your diet and stay away from the cookies, give yourself a reward. Get a manicure or have a girls night out.

And if you find, despite your best efforts, that you just can’t stick with it, that’s OK too. Don’t beat yourself up. You might, however, want to take a little in depth look and see if you can figure out why.

Then it’s still a success, because you’ve learned something new about yourself.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Maria Niles January 19, 2012 at 1:41 pm

This is a terrific approach! I especially like your example of adding fruits and veggies in January and adding movement in February. That sounds like a realistic and achievable way to make progress towards a weight loss goal. Using this approach to any goal will allow you to maintain focus and increase your chances of reaching your goal. Thanks!

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