by: Dr. Stephen Kraus, Success Scientist
Nearly half of Americans make New Year's resolutions, but only about 15% are able to keep them over the long-term.
In other words, about 85% break their resolutions, with as many as 20% breaking them in the first week!
Perhaps the single most important thing you can do to be more successful in keeping your resolution and making life changes is this: don't make New Year's resolutions ? make New Month resolutions instead.
Let's face it: If you only take stock of where are and where you want to go in life once a year, then you're probably not going to end up where you want to be.
If you set goals and start self-improvement efforts only once a year, you'll forget them.
You'll lose focus.
You'll get distracted by the hassles of day-to-day life.
You'll get overwhelmed by the magnitude of your goals.
Perhaps most importantly, you'll set goals so far in the future that they won't be motivating.
And that's why it's better to set New Month resolutions instead of New Year's resolutions.
There's nothing wrong with the idea of a New Year resolution; after all, people have been making them for over 4,000 years.
The problem is that people don't make them often enough.
Imagine how much more people would achieve if the end of every month brought about the same feelings as New Year's Eve: that renewed commitment to fitness and weight loss, the excitement about their goals and their future, that urge to get organized and get focused.
The New Year brings about the feeling of a "fresh start," and that can have very real effects; for example, research shows that people are more likely to recover from depression if they have that sense of a fresh start.
Perhaps the biggest reason to set New Month resolutions is that short-term goals have repeatedly been shown to lead to more motivation, better performance and greater happiness than long-term goals.
Consider this sampling of findings?
- As the deadline for a particular goal looms, people think more about that goal and experience a burst of productivity.
Even rats work harder as they approach their ?goals?!
We call it the ?imminence effect," and setting monthly goals uses this effect to your advantage. - Children struggling in math asked to set near-term goals not only outperform those asked to set more distant goals, they also develop a heightened sense of personal control, confidence, determination, and even (gasp!) an interest in math that wasn?t there before.
- Among adults, near-term goals lead to more weight loss than distant goals, and those who do lose weight setting distant goals do so only because they ?improvise? more near-term goals as well.
- Those who are most satisfied with life are those working toward enjoyable, moderately challenging goals of high short-term importance.
Those consistently focused on very long-term goals are less satisfied with life, and view their long-term goals as more difficult, more pressure-filled, and less enjoyable.
- Members of the U. S. Olympic ski team are required to write long-term, intermediate and short-term goals, but the sports psychologists who work with them have concluded that ?repeated daily focusing on long-term goals is often counter-productive.
The focus is too far into the future and prevents the athlete from completing the intermediate steps essential to ultimate success.? - Military leaders often ?segment? or ?compartmentalize? complex missions into smaller, ?bite-sized? sub-missions.
With these findings in mind, use New Month resolutions to achieve more in your own life.
Instead of focusing on your goal to build a successful business by the end of the year, focus on writing the business plan by the end of the month.
Instead of focusing on your goal of losing 50 pounds in the next year, focus on exercising 30 minutes each day during January.
You get the idea.
You'll achieve more, be happier, and get that great "fresh start" feeling 12 times more often than New Year's resolution makers.
About The Author
Success Scientist Dr. Stephen Kraus has been called a combination of Tony Robbins and Mr. Spock because of his scientific approach to the psychology of success.
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Why "New Month Resolutions" Are Better than New Year's Resolutions
Why "New Month Resolutions" Are Better than New Year's Resolutions
by: Dr. Stephen Kraus, Success Scientist
Nearly half of Americans make New Year's resolutions, but only about 15% are able to keep them over the long-term.
In other words, about 85% break their resolutions, with as many as 20% breaking them in the first week!
Perhaps the single most important thing you can do to be more successful in keeping your resolution and making life changes is this: don't make New Year's resolutions ? make New Month resolutions instead.
Let's face it: If you only take stock of where are and where you want to go in life once a year, then you're probably not going to end up where you want to be.
If you set goals and start self-improvement efforts only once a year, you'll forget them.
You'll lose focus.
You'll get distracted by the hassles of day-to-day life.
You'll get overwhelmed by the magnitude of your...
Weight loss > Why "New Month Resolutions" Are Better than New Year's Resolutions
Weight Loss Exercise - A Great Start
Weight Loss Exercise - A Great Start
by: Audrey Overman
I realize this sounds like a broken record, but if you want to loose weight and keep it off then you need weight loss exercise as part of your routine! Whether you think ?but I don't want to exercise, I hate exercise, I don't need to exercise?... or whatever other excuse you might have, the fact is weight loss exercise is the key to success.
The bottom line is you can join whatever fad diet you want.. if you do not start a weight loss exercise routine then your chances of successful weight loss will be dropped dramatically. Sure you will loose some weight, after all that is achieved simply by consuming less calories then your body requires to function. The problem is simply starving your body causes it to go into a fasting state. This is a defensive move that your body takes to help you survive, what happens is your metabolism slows down which in turn gives you a felling a fatigue plus...
Weight Loss Exercise - A Great Start
Weight loss > Weight Loss Exercise - A Great Start
Manic Depression
Manic Depression
by: Arthur Buchanan
So, What's the Difference?
Manic Depression is also known as Bipolar Illness.
Like depression, people with this disorder go through stages of depression, but Mania or Manic adds a cycle.
Mania is a very "up" mood, over elated, over happy. Too much of anything is no good, and because of these cycles, people experiencing Manic Depression visit the two extremes of depression and elation.
Sure, sounds great to be able to be really happy and energetic all the time. However, with the elated mood, the sufferer will often talk rapidly, and become disjointed.
There are three types of cycles that people may go through during mania. These are Rapid Cycle, Ultra-Rapid cycle and Ultradian cycles. All of these show how many episodes of mania the person goes through a year.
Rapid Cycles are most common, and this means 3 or 4 cycles of mania per year.
Ultra Rapid Cycles mean that...
Manic Depression
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Here You're Going To Learn Several Ways To Save Money Every Month By Lowering Your Monthly Bills.
Here You're Going To Learn Several Ways To Save Money Every Month By Lowering Your Monthly Bills.
by: Kris Bickell
Has debt got you down?
If so, you?re not alone. These days getting into debt is easy. Getting out is not. Buying lottery tickets and hoping to ?win the big one? is not the answer.
No matter how much money you owe, and no matter how tight money gets, remember that life is too short to spend time worrying.
Therefore, the real "secret"...
Why "New Month Resolutions" Are Better than New Year's Resolutions
Weight loss > Here You're Going To Learn Several Ways To Save Money Every Month By Lowering Your Monthly Bills.
Why "New Month Resolutions" Are Better than New Year's Resolutions Weight loss