WELLBEING
s ' r a e Y New Dr Natalie Flatt gives us the best advice for setting and achieving New Year’s goals in 2020!
Now’s the time to create your New Year’s resolution. But did you know that less than 25% of resolutions make it past the first month? In fact, only 8% of people accomplish them. So what’s the secret to really creating new habits? People tend to make long lists of big habits they want to change, and we can overwhelm ourselves by focusing on substantial changes down the road rather than on small changes in the here and now. So here are ten ideas for making changes you can stick to. 1. Identify the habits you want to change, then prioritise. Select one habit that will be your key focus for the next few weeks. Don’t do them all at once or you’ll lose focus and willpower. 2. Visualise yourself changing. Visualisation retrains neural networking in your brain. Spend some time every day envisioning yourself with new habits. Picture yourself eating healthy foods, having the freedom from cigarettes or being confident to meet new people.
3. What are you getting out of your habit? Are you looking for comfort in sugary or fatty foods? Numbness in alcohol? Stress and anxiety reduction through nail biting or smoking? Thinking about this begins the process of ‘replacement’ habits. Next time you catch yourself not hungry but standing in front of the fridge, or reaching for a glass of wine, try a replacement behaviour. Some ideas: have a glass of water, read a chapter of a book or look up a new app.
