At the beginning of a new year, it is often good to make New Year’s resolutions to make positive changes in your life, and at the end of the year, it is equally good to look back for a moment and see how well the previous resolutions have held.
I have never really made New Year’s resolutions myself because my own principle has always been that if you want to make changes in your behavior and life, make them now. Why wait? If it’s a change that’s good for you, postponing the change is unlikely to do you any good.
On the other hand, I understand very well people who make changes in their lives at the turn of the year. After all, it is better to make positive changes even once a year than never.
Unfortunately, you often only hear stories about “new year’s resolutions that were once again not kept.”
So that this time you can make New Year’s resolutions that stick and comes true, here are a few tips that you can use to significantly improve the probability of your decision actualizing:
1 – Define exactly what you want
“I want to lose weight” is not enough. Define exactly how much weight you want to lose: “On December 31, 2024, my weight will be permanently below 75 kilos,” or something similar.
2 – Think about why you want to make the change?
- What good will happen to you if you implement the change?
- What bad things will happen to you if you don’t implement the change?
- What bad things won’t happen to you if you make the change?
- What good will not happen to you if you do not make the change?
- What good will the change bring to your loved ones?
3 – Think about what resources you need to make the change?
- What resources do you already have at your disposal?
- What other resources do you need? Where do you get the resources you need, who could help you?
4 – Gravitate to the company of people who support your goal
Consciously avoid the company of people who question the necessity of your change or your ability to implement the change you want. If you want to quit smoking, find more people who don’t smoke. If you want to lose weight, go eat with slim people.
5 – Do the following mental visualizing exercise for a few minutes every day for a month, and after a month whenever necessary:
- Make sure you are not disturbed for the next few minutes. Turn off the phone, close the door.
- Sit in a comfortable chair, close your eyes lightly, take a few deep and calm breaths and relax.
- When you’re comfortably relaxed, let the “authentic you” stand in front of you. Imagine yourself standing in front of you. This you standing before you is you at your most authentic, you at your best. This is you who has all your inner resources at your disposal. This is the you who has already made the change you want.
- See this authentic you in your mind’s eye from different angles. See what you look like when you have accomplished your goal. What is your posture like? What is the look in your eyes? What do you sound like when you talk? How you look when you walk, shake hands, act and behave in the environment in which you operate – at work, at home, in hobbies…
- After you have observed and admired this authentic you for a while, step into his/her body in your mind and experience the same things as if you were living them. See everything through the eyes of the authentic you: what does the world look like, who are the people around you, what do they look like? Experience how everything sounds through the ears of the authentic you: how does your speech sound, what other voices do you hear, what do other people’s voices sound like? And above all: how does it feel to be you at your most authentic: how does your body feel, where do you feel the sensations in your body, in which direction do they move?
- Enjoy a few moments of your life at your most authentic, in different situations, with the desired change realized. Notice how good everything feels.
- Before you come back to the present moment, step out of your body once more and look at yourself from the outside. You may say in your mind: “that person is me.” Notice again how good it feels to look at the authentic you.
- When you feel like it, come back to the present moment and to the time and place you are in and open your eyes again.
With the help of the instructions above, you will be able to implement New Year’s resolutions and normal changes easily. Sometimes, however, it may be good to use also other NLP techniques…
