Why New Year's resolutions don't work

New Year's resolutions don’t work.

Not because they’re not a good idea.

But because of how they’re usually made: from your current self-concept.

 

Your current self-concept is the way you think about yourself right now.

And when you set a resolution - like working less - from your current self-concept, it'll only work temporarily. 

Because you’ll be constantly fighting against your old self - someone who's always worked evenings and weekends.

 

Sticking to the resolution - shutting down your laptop at 5pm - will feel like an identity crisis to your brain.

It'll throw up a lot of resistance, which takes energy to overcome. 

And since our brains are designed to conserve energy and do what they've always done, eventually you’ll end up reverting back to how things were before - spending Sunday getting a head start on emails and cancelling Thursday's dinner plans with friends to work late. 

 

To make New Year's resolutions work, you want to start with your mindset.

And change how you think about you: your self-concept.

 

This is what I did to stop being so busy.

I'd tried before to stop it - aiming to deliver bids early and not pack my calendar full of overlapping commitments.

But it never lasted long. I always ended up rushing again from one thing to the next.

This was because I thought of myself (even subconsciously) as someone who was always busy and rushed.

I thought that was just how I was.

It wasn't until I DECIDED to think of myself as someone who was calm and organised that everything changed.

 

And with that new self-concept, whenever I did rush, it felt weird.

It was no longer who I was.

Which made it easier to course-correct and get back to being calm and organised.

 

It's the same for New Year's resolutions.

Actioning your way to a new self-concept doesn't create lasting change.

 

You want to start with your mindset.

 

And decide first - WHO do you want to be?

 

Someone who's calm and organised? Who's decisive? Who works four day weeks?

Someone who's always home for dinner with their kids? Who does hard things? Who's going to stop putting things off?

 

Once you decide WHO you want to be, the actions to get you there will come easily.

And most importantly: they'll stick.

It all starts with changing how you think about yourself.

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