New Year's resolutions don't work. Better to use this approach

Date of writing: 14.04.2022

Reading time: 19 minutes

Recent research shows that this simple method will make you happier by as much as 25%! Think about those who did something good in your life and positively influenced your destiny. Then take a piece of paper and write some nice words to express your gratitude to these people.

Get rid of unnecessary things

During the New Year holidays, you will probably have time to sort out your wardrobe and get rid of things that you will never wear again. They can be given to a charity center or help centers for homeless people. Believe me, you will feel great satisfaction that you took the time to help those who really need it. And there will be a lot of free space in the closet.

Start a piggy bank for change

To prevent small change from weighing down your pockets, place a beautiful jar or piggy bank in the hallway, and at the same time get into the habit of throwing change into it in the evening. By the end of each month, you will have accumulated a decent amount. And for those who are no longer accustomed to dealing with cash, you can use the special “piggy bank” service, which is now offered in many banks. The point of the service is that a small percentage (what, you can decide for yourself) from each purchase you make is transferred to a special account with a higher interest rate. Money accumulates in your electronic “piggy bank”, and by the end of the year the account has an amount that can, for example, be spent on a vacation.

Eat more citrus fruits

All citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C, which will help you look better. Research shows that people who regularly eat oranges, tangerines and grapefruits look younger.

Don't forget about doctors

Take a table planner and fill it out for the year ahead. Consider which specialist and when will be most convenient for you to visit. Everyone would benefit from regular medical examinations by a gynecologist, mammologist, dentist, as well as ultrasound of internal organs and tests. Schedule your visits in advance so you don't have to run to the doctor when something hurts.

Get indoor plants

It turns out that indoor plants help reduce stress, and caring for plants helps calm the autonomic nervous system and lower blood pressure.

Sign up for online courses

The Internet is an inexhaustible source of knowledge, so after a short search, you will definitely be able to find free online courses or webinars on any topic that interests you. History, science, art or self-care: choose what you love most and don't miss the chance to learn something new without leaving home.

There is dark chocolate

It has been proven that dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content improves blood circulation and reduces blood pressure, and therefore the risk of stroke. So, starting from the New Year, eat dark chocolate at least every day. Just please, no more than 20 g.

create coziness in your home with the help of scents

Scents are closely associated with areas of the brain associated with emotions and memories, and some of them influence mood. The aroma of vanilla, for example, lifts your spirits and brings joy, mint corrects your emotional state and energy activity, and lavender helps relieve stress.

Walk up the stairs

Take the stairs when you return home or go to work in the office. Just a few floors a day is a good workout for the cardiovascular system, abdominal muscles and buttocks. After a month of regular lifting, you will have more strength and energy. Works better than coffee.

Hang family photos

In countries where family values and traditions are respected, people live longer and feel happier. Therefore, do not hesitate to hang and display family photographs of moms and dads, grandparents, and grandparents in your home. It’s nice to remember once again about the people who have surrounded you since childhood and the places where you come from.

Plan your vacation

Women who vacation at least twice a year significantly reduce the risk of having a heart attack. And not so long ago it was proven that even thoughts about vacation have a positive effect on the body and improve mood. So dream about vacation more often and plan how you will spend your vacation next time.

Listen to audiobooks

If you can't start exercising regularly, try listening to interesting audiobooks while exercising. Classes will be more effective, and time will pass unnoticed. You will want to know the ending of the detective story, so this will be an additional incentive to get on an exercise bike or get on the treadmill.

Keep a diary

This is one of the proven and working ways to unload your head, calm down and work on your problems. The habit of writing down your thoughts and tasks especially helps in those cases when you are depressed and upset, but cannot understand why. The reason is that there are too many thoughts in your head that simply need to be put in order. And the easiest way to do this is to pick up a pen or pencil.

set washing day

To avoid getting bogged down in a pile of dirty and unironed laundry, set aside one day a week when you definitely put things in the washing machine and sort out what has accumulated after washing.

Get a pet

It’s wonderful to feel that someone needs you and that you are not at all alone. It also has a positive effect on your well-being and mood. Of course, you may not be able to get a big dog right away; you can start with fish. It is important to have someone to take care of.

Find a hobby

Another sleepy Sunday? Try something new: cooking classes, painting classes, acting, singing or dancing classes. Whatever you like. You can’t be bored all the time, it’s bad for your health. Scientists have found that people who complain of boredom all the time are twice as likely to die from heart disease.

Go to bed on time

We promised that we would not ask you to do the impossible, but it is simply necessary to do it. Firstly, in the morning and throughout the day you will have much more strength. And secondly, proper sleep increases the desire to have sex, so stop surfing the Internet at night and watching TV shows.

Give compliments to yourself

Repeat every time: “Today is my day and I am grateful to myself for it!” Don't always scold yourself for everything. Treating yourself with love and compassion will help you cope with life's challenges and relieve depression and anxiety. You will simply stop worrying about small things, and mistakes and failures happen to everyone and allow us to learn something new.

hike

The more you walk during the day, the higher your activity level will be. Get yourself outside more often and walk whenever possible. To motivate yourself, buy a fitness tracker or turn on the step counter on your phone.

change bedding more often

We spend a third of our lives in bed and most likely it is not as clean as we would like. Change your bed linen at least once a week to avoid accumulating bacteria and harmful microorganisms in your bed, which interfere with proper rest and harm your health.

eat yogurt

Yogurt is an excellent source of calcium, and when the body lacks it, it begins to take it from our bones. And a standard jar of natural yogurt contains half the daily requirement of calcium.

Wear sunglasses

It may not seem as relevant now, but spring is just around the corner, so don't forget to put on your glasses whenever the sun comes out. Exposure to UV rays can cause serious eye damage, including cataracts, and squinting in the sun can cause wrinkles around your eyes.

Say “YES” at least once a month

Try to experiment and at least once a month say “yes” to everything that usually scares you: speaking at a work meeting, going to a party with strangers where an old friend invites you, or going to a kickboxing class. Just one day! When you force yourself to overcome your fear and get out of your comfort zone, fear ceases to be a problem for you. It may not happen right away, but over time it will change you and your life for the better.

10 chosen

If in childhood the New Year was usually associated with a fairy tale, Santa Claus and gifts, then now it is more associated with “new life”, with the changes we hope for in the coming year. During this time, we like to dream and make New Year's resolutions about what we are going to achieve. Let's take a look back at the most popular New Year's resolutions and think about how to make sure they don't just remain promises.

Find a new job

We devote a huge part of our lives to work, and our New Year's aspirations are connected to it. Therefore, before the New Year, we often think that in the coming year we need to find a new, more interesting job or take a new, more responsible and highly paid position. To bring these dreams closer to reality, think carefully about what exactly you want: what company to work for, what to do, how much money to receive. And then write down a specific action plan that should lead to this result. It is clear that you are unlikely to begin implementing these actions on January 1st, or even January 11th - the first month of the year in Russian business not much is happening, and at this time it is difficult to hope for any changes. But understanding your goals and objectives will help you begin to solve them in the future.

Start a healthy lifestyle

Many people want to start leading a healthy lifestyle in the coming year: eat right, exercise, start running in the morning. It is clear that this will not be possible on New Year's Eve: Olivier salad with mayonnaise, fatty meat and champagne in large quantities do not correspond to this goal. But you can start implementing these tasks already during the holidays: arrange “fasting days” in early January, and play sports in your free time. This will make a good start to the year of health in your life.

Find your "soul mate"

The promise of finding your love can rather be classified as a dream, because, at first glance, nothing depends on you. But this is not entirely true: the larger your social circle, the greater the chances of meeting in it "the one and only" And in order for him to inevitably pay attention to you, try to look better, communicate friendly with new acquaintances, and find yourself in the center of attention.

Learn something new

New knowledge and skills will never be superfluous. Therefore, regardless of what exactly you want: learn a new language or learn how to do a somersault, start working on it immediately after the holiday, do not put it off until the end of the year. Choose the courses that suit you, take a trial lesson. The sooner you start making New Year's resolutions, the greater your chance of actually keeping them.

Lose weight

You must approach the fulfillment of this promise thoroughly, otherwise you risk, like many women, rushing to extremes all year - either starve, remembering your promise, or overeat, forgetting about it. It’s better to make a plan for yourself, write down how much weight you should lose each month. After this, create a nutrition and training system for yourself and try to strictly adhere to it. So that this doesn’t happen: “Well, I haven’t eaten anything for three days, today I’ll eat a cake.” There will be no benefit from such a power system.

Spend more time with family and friends

10 days of holidays free from work is an excellent time to realize this promise. But after they are over, it may turn out that you, wrapped in the cycle of events, will forget about it again. Do you have a rough idea of your work schedule? Set aside certain days a week to meet with family and friends, then it will be much easier to keep this promise.

Quit smoking

This promise often becomes eternal. As Mark Twain said: "Quitting smoking couldn't be easier. I've done it hundreds of times." If you really set yourself such a goal, remember that the option of reducing the number of cigarettes or their strength usually does not work. To quit smoking, you just need to stop doing it; other methods will not help. But it’s better not to make it your goal to quit smoking on January 1 - during the long holidays the temptation to indulge yourself is too great, and after the first failure you will not be so serious about your next attempts.

Get your finances in order

Whether you want to save money or just hope that you won't have to borrow money from anyone next year, you need to adjust the ratio between your income and expenses. Calculate how much money you can spend per month, subtract from it necessary expenses, such as buying groceries, paying off a loan, paying utility bills. What you will have left is free money, and you can only spend it on personal expenses. Then it’s just a matter of self-control - don’t buy a “very-cute-dress” if you don’t have any free money left this month, don’t go to a restaurant with friends again if you’re planning to make some kind of large purchase. After all, your expenses depend only on you.

Become a more organized person

The promise is very good, but too vague. To achieve success, you need to promise yourself something more specific: not to be late for meetings, turn in your work on time, keep your desk in order, and finally start a diary (especially since they are so often given as a New Year's gift). These components will help you improve your overall organization.

Overall, making New Year's resolutions is beneficial - they help us understand our goals and start moving towards achieving them. On the other hand, there are people who "get stuck" in your dreams. Instead of looking for a job, they think about how good it will be when they find one. Instead of meeting a young man, they dream of a wonderful family life with an imaginary “prince.” These dreams bring them the positive emotions that real life should bring, and they have no goal of changing anything. That is, dreams, instead of motivating a person, demotivate him.

Psychologist Maria Pugacheva explained how to distinguish “harmful” dreams from “useful” ones and how to move from dreams to actions:

“In order to separate the “harmful” and “useful” dreams, try to make one of your dreams a specific goal, even if this goal is difficult for you, or the effect of it will not be so great compared to the costs. Over the course of some time, realize several of yours more or less realistic dreams: meet the handsome guy from the next office, take out a loan for the car you want, earn money for a beautiful renovation. After real experience, you will be able to realistically assess your priorities and capabilities. So, having realized 1, 2, 3 dreams, you will be able to effectively and consciously manage the joys of your life. And what you dreamed about in the key “will happen by itself” will fade into the background, giving way to concrete actions.”

What do you dream about for the New Year? What New Year's resolutions do you make to yourself? Is it possible to contain them?

The beginning of the year is Big Monday, from which that very new life begins.

How to make your dreams come true and not burn out like sparklers on New Year's Eve?

How to turn dreams into wishes come true?

We will not talk about burning a piece of paper with a wish during the chimes and other New Year rituals. We'll tell you about specific techniques that can be done throughout the year.

First of all, you should learn to set specific goals

We have a tense relationship with anything that even somehow concerns plans for the future: we have already gotten used to the idea that we cannot in any way influence what will happen there, ahead. Therefore, we often make vague wishes like “World peace and health to all my loved ones.” Don’t think, we have nothing against healthy loved ones. But let's be honest: this is not a desire at all, but rather a hope.

It is worth trying to set clearer goals that do not depend on external circumstances, and if they do, they do not depend entirely. At the same time, it is advisable to write them down somewhere: in a diary, on a piece of paper, in a smartphone.

Dr. Mike Roddis argues that you can achieve any goal, even the most ambitious, if you clearly understand why you need it. And it’s even better if you set deadlines, but this is the advanced version. For example, it is not enough to wish: “I want to finally lose weight and take care of my health.”

If you lose weight, then why? Because you gained weight over the past year, a couple of extra pounds have been bothering you for a long time, or simply because everyone around you is losing weight?

Before you set a specific goal, think about why you need it

How much weight do you need to lose - a kilogram, two or thirty? And what does it mean to “take care of your health” - go to the hospital every day or undergo a preventive examination? The more specific your goal is, the faster you will begin to realize it.

“I, like many people, have a ritual: burn a piece of paper with a wish, throw it into a glass of champagne and quickly drink it while the clock strikes twelve. Last year turned out to be very stressful, a lot of things didn’t work out, so on New Year’s Eve I wrote out all my wishes so clearly and in detail that I barely managed to complete the ritual on time. I wanted only one thing: to change my field of activity. And just a couple of months later, my dream job almost found me on its own - I contacted the right people, reminded me of myself. And voila! - Karina shares.

Don't be afraid to voice your intentions

Interesting fact: in the course of his research, psychologist Richard Wiseman found that women are more successful in implementing their plans and strategies if they declare them publicly and enlist the support of society.

Social networks actively promote public goal setting. Last year, VKontakte launched a large flash mob under the hashtag #InNewYearIPromise. Ruslan Karbolsunov, deputy head of the Vkontakte press service, noted in an interview that for the first time took part in such a flash mob, and now, whether you like it or not, you’ll have to take stock.

“Not everything was accomplished, but this is a good opportunity to continue next year - especially since most of the plans can safely be considered universal,” said Ruslan.

There is no shame in such public goal setting: after all, who cares about our personal goals?

Share your plans both live and online

“Once before the New Year, I made a post on Facebook that in the New Year I would like to find a new place to live and change my hairstyle. There were a couple more points, but several people I knew wrote to me about these two: one colleague from a previous job was just looking for new tenants, and a girl with whom we studied together offered to be a model for her final exam at an advanced training course for hairdressers. So mine are literally in the first days of the year!” - Inna shares.

Get rid of the old - make way for the new

If you already have a clear goal and are not even afraid to voice it publicly, but don’t yet know where to start, start by making room in your life.

Remember how mom did spring cleaning before... New Year holidays? Or maybe you've heard about the Italian tradition of throwing old things out of the window? One way or another, the idea is simple and lies on the surface: you should get rid of the old to make way for the new.

You need to get rid of the old not only in closets, but also in smartphones

And we’re not just talking about things: old stools or kitchen towels that you can’t get around to throwing away. We're talking about everything in general: some of us vitally need to clear our friends list on social networks, our phone memory from piles of unnecessary photos and old applications, say goodbye to toxic friends, and stop working on Saturdays. Or even change the alarm melody to a new one. Change inevitably entails other changes - so start small and see what happens.

“For several months I couldn’t take a single photo on my phone, my memory was so loaded. Moreover, they didn’t get around to cleaning the phone. Although the phone was full to capacity, it was annoying: applications worked slowly, it constantly froze. Then one day I made up my mind and took the time: I sorted out the photos, deleted the applications. And, surprisingly, a couple of days later, my adult daughter came to visit and gave me a New Year’s gift: a fitness bracelet, to configure which you had to download a new application. Like this: I got rid of one thing, and in return something new came,” Irina shared.

Master of the game “What? Where? When?" Maxim Potashev gives excellent advice in his book: a question that you couldn’t cope with should simply be forgotten. This is smarter than dragging around a bunch of old unsolvable problems year after year.

Perhaps the most important thing: do everything with joy

We cannot change the world, but we can change our attitude towards it.

Throwing sweets out of the refrigerator, deleting numbers from your notebook, setting goals and crossing off completed items - all this can be done with optimism in your soul and hope for brighter times. With this approach, the most desired changes will not take long to arrive.

Your problems, your weaknesses, failures, regrets and mistakes will teach you if you want to learn, or punish you if you don't want to. So let them teach you, every day. Take everything as a lesson that life has given you. If you regret decisions you've made in the past, don't torture yourself. At that moment, you did the best thing based on the experience you had. Your decisions were made by a younger mind. If you had to accept them now with your current wisdom, you would do things differently. So calm down. Time and experience teach us well how to make the best choices today, for ourselves and for those we care about.

2. My life belongs to me, and I am responsible for it.

Life may have taught you that you should blame your parents, teachers, mentors, educational system, government, etc., but never blame yourself. Right? You yourself are not to blame for anything.. WRONG! It is always your fault because if you want to let go of yourself and move forward with life, you are the only person who can do it. This is YOUR action. This is YOUR responsibility. Hold her!

3. I will talk to myself mindfully and kindly.

Did you just say something to yourself? Were these inspiring or encouraging words that you would say to a friend? Or were they derogatory remarks that you would shout at the enemy if you didn't have a heart? Or negative judgments about life that you would express if you didn't have faith?
All day long we talk quietly to ourselves, and part of us believes every word we say. So stay alert and ask yourself:
“If I had a friend who talked to me the way I talk to myself now, how long would I allow that person to be my friend?”

4. I will listen to what my soul and heart tell me

When something feels right, it means it's right for you (or at least it's worth looking into). And if you clearly feel deep inside that something is wrong, most likely it is true. Pay attention to your true feelings and follow where they lead. When you follow your inner voice, doors tend to open for you, even if they slam shut at first.

5. I will live a life that feels right to me and not to others.

Give yourself permission to follow the path that makes YOU happy. And understand that some people in your life will refuse to walk alongside you as you embark on this journey; they just won't accept it, no matter what you say, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that sometimes when you trust yourself to create your own happiness, it goes against what other people think. Sometimes when you are rewarded with something important, you need to let go of something else. And sometimes that “other” is a relationship that only wants you to do what it needs.

6. I will let go of relationships that were not for me.

Many people come into your life temporarily just to teach you something. They come and they go and they change things. And it's okay that they are no longer in your life. It's not relationships that last, but the lessons that relationships bring you. If you learn to open your heart and mind, anyone, including the types who ultimately piss you off, can teach you something worthwhile. Sometimes it feels weird when you realize you've spent so much time with someone you're no longer involved with, but that's just the way it should be. You are exactly where you should be. We all.

7. I won't let any situation steal my smile forever.

Even when times are tough, take a moment to pause and remember who YOU are. Take a moment and think about the things that have real and lasting meaning in your life, and then smile at how far you have already come on your path. Honestly, there is nothing more beautiful and powerful in the world than a smile that has overcome tears. Any fool can be happy when everything is easy. It takes a strong soul and a real heart to show a smile in a situation that makes us cry. No matter how long it lasts, better times will come. Keep going. Difficult situations ultimately give birth to strong people, you know.

8. I will celebrate and appreciate the life I have.

Too many people overestimate what they don't have and underestimate who they are. Don't be one of them. Take a breath of fresh air. The past is behind you. Focus on what you can do today, not what you could or should have done yesterday. Remember, for everything you lost, you gained something else. Appreciate what you have today and who you are today. Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful. Appreciate your joys, not your problems. It costs nothing to be positive and it changes things in better side. Your thoughts are in your control, so use them to give your actions and your life a powerful edge.

9. I believe I have power and will use it.

Most often, people betray their power when they think that they no longer have it. Do not do that. The world needs you. In a world filled with malice, you must dare to forgive. In a world filled with hate, you must dare to love. In a world filled with mistrust, you must dare to believe. And when you can, we promise you, you will find the strength you once thought you lacked.

10. I will dedicate myself to my own improvement.

Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Excellence or mastery of something is never an accident. It is the result of noble intention, concentrated effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution, and the ability to see obstacles and opportunities. It is also extremely important to understand that skill cannot be assessed by looking at where you are now, but also by the ability to measure the distance that you have traveled from the point where you started. It's about being diligent and making progress—or a new step forward, or a new lesson—day after day.

11. I will strive beyond my previous comfort zone.

Just because you are struggling doesn't mean you are losing. Any success requires some type of struggle to get there. Know this! In the fight, that's where you become stronger and smarter. It's better to spend 10 minutes of intense growth than a mediocre hour of running in place. Every day, practice the point where you are at the edge of your capabilities, stretching yourself beyond their limits again and again, slipping, learning from new mistakes, and stretching yourself even further.

12. If I know a change is necessary, I will accept it.

Life is an endless act of holding and letting go—of stopping and moving. We strive to make good choices, but how can we know when it's time to truly move forward in our lives? The signs are not always easy to accept, but they are there and you know it. Relationships, jobs, and even the cities we live in have expiration dates. Sometimes we hold on to what isn't working out of fear that we won't be able to adapt to the changes we need. And therefore, the solution is always the same: great pain, severe frustration and long-lasting regret. Be smarter than that. If you know changes are necessary, embrace them.

In a world where vows often go unfulfilled, where committing to something means less than it used to mean, where promises are given left and right, it would be nice to see words begin to carry weight again, wouldn't it? Remember this when you make promises to yourself. They must be backed up by right action.

The image you have of yourself in the future depends on the actions you see yourself doing today.

Make a promise to yourself and then keep it.

The New Year is a time for many to reconsider their lives and start with a “clean slate.” Who among us has not promised ourselves and our friends and family to do fitness, quit smoking, lose 20 kg of weight, change our attitude towards work and generally become a different person?

The New Year seems like the perfect time for us to change everything for the better. Television in different countries is replete with programs that attract the gullible public with the possibilities of a new wonderful life. How possible is this really? Is a person able to make a real turn in his destiny and, as neuro-linguistic programming promises, move from “frogs to princes”?

What changes are definitely impossible?

If you decide to change your temperament or demand that your partner change himself in the same direction, then you have burdened yourself and him with a completely impossible task. Temperament directly depends on the biochemical characteristics of the body, and this is given to you once and for all.

Science has long found out that it is impossible to change a person’s emotionality, natural tendency to anxiety, excitability of nervous processes and other psychophysiological constants, i.e. everything that directly depends on your genetically inherent characteristics.

True, modern pharmacology produces a lot of drugs that promise to transform a man indifferent to carnal pleasures into a “sexual tiger.” But personally, it seems to me that all this is “from the evil one” and you shouldn’t follow the lead of ubiquitous advertising.

Oddly enough, you can turn a timid introvert into a completely cheerful extrovert. It is clear that it is the introvert himself who must decide for himself that he is uncomfortable in his introvert skin and it is time to try himself in a different role. Here you can promise your loved ones that from the New Year you will start life in a new way.

The method of mental restructuring is, in principle, simple and consists of training assertive behavior and practicing social skills. And, of course, changes in behavioral stereotypes. The simplest thing is to make a promise to start a conversation with two strangers every day in the new year. Just talk without setting any goals. By the end of the year, you will have at least 700 contacts, and some of them will become your new friends.

Personally, this process took me only 3 months of summer vacation. But I didn't limit myself to two contacts a day. My working number was 10. The benefits turned out to be enormous, and fate almost immediately began to smile on me. An additional bonus was the increased scholarship, since I passed the next session at the medical institute with straight A’s and did not lower this bar until graduation. Note that it is much easier for extroverts to find a job, and this is important in our time of crisis.

It is also quite possible to increase your ability to concentrate. Really increase your creative abilities or, as it is now fashionable to say, “creativity.” Learning any European or Oriental language is undoubtedly a progressive step. And it will definitely change your personality for the better. However, before making solemn promises, there is one important thing to do:

Assess your level of motivation

There is a simple motivation level scale (Robert Wobbolding, 1991) that can help you understand yourself:

“In general, I don’t need this, but if you all insist...” A typical picture: relatives and friends all press in a crowd, begging you to quit the bad habit.
“I’m not against change, but I’m too lazy to make the effort.” Often the desire to improve one's condition is met with banal laziness. This is the target audience of sellers of diet pills and CDs for learning foreign languages in your sleep.
“I want to change my life and I’ll try to start doing something practically.” The category of people who are given a subscription to the fitness center, and perhaps they will look there a couple of times...
“I really need this and I will definitely start working on myself.” This is perhaps the most acceptable level of motivation, and your intentions can be voiced to others. However, “objective circumstances” can always emerge that weaken your decisive attempts to change your life for the better.
“I’m fed up with everything and I’ll change my life no matter what.” Isn’t it strange that with such an attitude we had to wait for the New Year? The explanation here is simple: Russians watch “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath” too often and do not perceive serious changes at other times of the year. However, sarcasm aside - it is the fifth level of motivation that makes us successful in any endeavor!

Summary: If your motivation level is less than three, refrain from making any public promises. There is more than enough empty chatter in our country.

Drug addicts and alcoholics should not make promises

It's funny that there is a category of people from whom solemn promises are most expected. These are alcoholics and drug addicts. Their loved ones and friends simply push them to the wall with the question: “When will you finally quit your addiction?” The New Year seems like a convenient opportunity here too to get on the right path.

American psychiatrist Lance Dods conducted an interesting study on this matter. The results were published in Psychology Today 2016. According to him, if the client makes some kind of solemn promise to “quit,” then the chances of relapse increase sharply. And all due to the fact that to the previous psychological problems is added a feeling of guilt and anger at those who forced the patient to make a promise that was impossible for him to fulfill.

Making or not making New Year's resolutions is a personal matter for everyone, but many years of experience show that it is better not to do this. If you really can’t wait to change something radically in your life, do it silently, at least you won’t “jinx it” and you won’t have to make excuses to your friends for being “weak.”

Sergey Bogolepov

Photo istockphoto.com