Another Year, Another Day

I am ready for the new year, are you? I'm not writing a soul-searching, "this is what I've learned, this is what I went through" momento this year. Instead I'm going to write that I really hope this year is much better than the last. Selling a house, improving finances, moving, overcoming a major health issue, going to school in a completly different field while working full-time was enough change for maybe a person's life time. It was definitely enough for me. However, that was basically my year, 'nough said.

This new year I'm going to finish what I've started, and I've got a lot of change ahead of me. I have a huge decision to make very soon, and I've been thinking about it for about 2 months already and I still don't know what to do. I'm sure I'll know what to do when the time comes, I hope.

Anyway, if you're one of the people trying to make a resolution you should pay attention. I was in the Dr.'s office reading some type of medical article and it was discussing how people change. Basically if you set a resolution, that's great, but you need to reward yourself with some attainable motivational factor for it to stick. I could go through the rigamarole of the article, but the bottom line is, if you want to make change a habit, you basically have to give yourself treats like you would trying to train a dog new tricks.

Psychologists found that if you give yourself some type of reward for every time you do the behavior you are trying to incorporate or change (ie exercise), then you are more likely to continue to want to do that behavior. It has something to do with endorphins and some other chemicals in your brain that I can't remember. Here's an example, you shouldn't tell yourself that if you work out for a week, you'll get that new iPod or a pair of shoes or whatever. That's too far away. The best way to do it is something like, you get to have a piece of chocolate or go see a movie right away ...whatever would be a motivational factor for you to accomplish your goal. They weren't specific about what kind of rewards you should use (or maybe I didn't reach the end of the article before my apt... can't remember.)

Point is, treat yourself EVERY time you do the behavior you want so that your brain starts associating positive aspects with the new behavior to make you want to do it more. When it becomes habit, then maybe spread the rewards out, and eventually you can remove them all together. It's like having a star chart for good behavior as a kid. :) Good luck!