It’s not too late for New Year’s resolutions—and if you’ve already broken the ones you made three days ago, it’s ok to start fresh today! A study by Richard Wiseman, PhD, shows that these five tips give people a better chance of success:
- Break larger goals into smaller steps.
- Reward yourself for each step you achieve.
- Tell your friends about your goals.
- Focus on the benefits of succeeding.
- Keep a diary of your progress.
In the spirit of #3, I’m inviting you to share your New Year’s resolutions here by posting a comment. The very fact that you’re making your commitment public will increase your likelihood of living up to it. Plus you might receive encouragement and new ideas from fellow commenters.
I’m willing to start. In fact, I’ll share two of my resolutions:
1. I will eat healthier in 2012. I don’t know exactly what that is going to look like yet, but my first step toward achieving this goal was to order a book called Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, by Gary Taubes. Here’s a quote from the book description:
…Taubes reveals the bad nutritional science of the last century, none more damaging or misguided than the “calories-in, calories-out” model of why we get fat, and the good science that has been ignored, especially regarding insulin’s regulation of our fat tissue. He also answers the most persistent questions: Why are some people thin and others fat? What roles do exercise and genetics play in our weight? What foods should we eat, and what foods should we avoid? Packed with essential information and concluding with an easy-to-follow diet, Why We Get Fat is an invaluable key in our understanding of an international epidemic and a guide to what each of us can do about it.
If the book lives up to this description, I’ll let you know. Maybe I’ll even do a book review in a future post.
2. I will finish the book I’ve been writing—in fact, I’ll do this before the end of January! It’s a compiled, enhanced, re-organized, and updated collection of some things I’ve written about another popular New Year’s resolution: Reading the Bible. I was convicted about how important this topic this is when I looked at my blog stats and discovered how many people find LifeLines after Googling phrases like,
“Why people don’t read the Bible”
“Can I be a good Christian and not read my Bible”
“Why don’t Christians read the Bible.”
So the book is intended to answer those questions and help people succeed at Bible-reading. My plan is to publish it as a very affordable ebook.
So those are two of my resolutions.
What are some of yours?
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My resolution is the same as yours…eating healthier. I am tired of calling it “diet” and I don’t want to be slave to any particular plan where I have to measure, count calories, or completely exclude a food group…that doesn’t work for me. So, healthier eating in 2012, along with starting to get some form of exercise each day, should help me feel better (and maybe even look better!).
I hear you! I haven’t finished “Why We Get Fat” yet, but what I’ve read so far is fascinating and inspiring. I’ll keep you posted!
Some of my goals for 2012:
• Complete and publish two respect curriculums – dissedRespect in the Family and dissedRespect in the Classroom
• Lose some weight
• Be more consistent in my personal Bible reading
• Keep my resolutions
Excellent! I haven’t read any studies about whether “keeping resolutions” as a resolution has any effect on success, but it can’t hurt! Let’s keep each other accountable on all those points in 2012.
I would really like to see your book Melanie and what Jason produces on respect and see how I could adapt culturally into the T or I languages…so you go…God lead me to Hebrews 12 this year -the normal Christian life -under His training -sometimes painful, but with eyes on Christ for the joy set before me, submitting to and growing from His training in my life….eyes on the prize!: ) Also last year the theme He gave me as I try to read 5 Psalms a day was His unfailing love…this year -it is joy and rejoice around the theme of Him being our refuge and shelter…it’s fun to read Scripture with a theme in mind He’s laid on our heart for the year -reminds us He is personally there with us, speaking thru His word -it’s not just ‘reading the bible” — Love you-Happy New Year!
Thanks for that encouragement, Janet! If you would like to see Jason’s first “dissedRespect” book, it is already available on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/105973
I would be interested to hear whether you think “respect” is a uniquely American issue, or whether other cultures deal with it too.
Same one every year, but hope I actually do it this year! Read the Bible every day.
You can do it, Sarah! One of those posts I linked to has a downloadable iCal calendar that gives you a Bible verse every day. Try using that on your smartphone. It’s a start!
Love your resolutions this year Melanie. Eating healthier–that’s one of mine too and has been for several years. I keep making baby steps! And I won’t be writing a book, but will be glad to keep up with my blog, which today is on another good book on eating well: “Food Rules” by Michael Pollan. He also wrote “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” It will interesting to see how it compares to “Why We Get Fat–And What to Do About It.”
Thanks for the encouragement, Ann! I hope to blog more about “Why We Get Fat” next week, but I can tell you already that it’s having an effect. Only a few days in to the new year, and I am already feeling healthier! I will check out your post about “Food Rules” as well. Thanks for the tip!
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