Making and Keeping New Year’s Resolutions by Gayl Hartell

Stop what you are doing right now and write down the 3 things that bother you the most about your life.
 
Next, out of those 3 things which ones do you have control over?  Hint:  you only have control over your behavior and your thoughts.

Now, pick one of your behaviors that is bothering you and write out specifically what it is that you do that bothers you.  Be behaviorally specific as possible.  For instance,  instead of writing “I’m overweight.”  Substitute, “I eat sweets at night when I’m watching television.”  Instead of writing, “I’m disorganized,”  substitute, “I haven’t allowed myself time in the day to properly put things away.”s

Then write down, being as behaviorally specific as possible what you will do about it.  For example:  I eat sweets at night,  Write down:  I will go to the store, and buy things to munch on that I like for when I need something at night. 

     When you are attempting to change a behavior, you want to first understand all the good reasons that you have that behavior.  For instance, I eat sweets at night because it gives me something to look forward to before I eat it, it initially lowers my anxiety level,  it tastes good and makes me feel good, it raises my blood sugar and physiologically gives me a lift, I get a feeling of satisfaction when I eat.
Then ask yourself:  How long do the good feelings last?  Next:  Is it worth it?  If not, what would I like to do for myself that would make the positive feelings last longer, promote health, make me feel more in control of myself and subsequently increase  my self esteem?

     Understanding how important a behavior is to you is extremely important in figuring out how best to discontine it.  You may want to rate it on a one to ten scale.  If it is too high, you may want to pick a different behavior to change–one that will more likely lead to success.

     Attempt to figure out what behavior you could substitute for eating sweets.  Make a list of possiblilties.  For instance; you could substitute healthier foods or you could substitute healthier behaviors.  Then, being honest with yourself, think about what would be the most likely thing you would commit to.  Then think about even starting with the easiest and working up to more difficult behaviors.  For instance, you may want to initially start with food substitutions for two weeks, next start with exercise for 5 minutes before you eat the foods, gradually increase the exercise time.  Or you may want to journal the feelings you are attempting to assuade before you eat, then eat.  Then write down how you feel afterwards.