How is it going with the New Year’s resolutions? Still trying to stick to the resolutions? How about participating at a psychological research study? (http://richardwiseman.com/, link to study sign up at the bottom)
Prof. Richard Wiseman, the lead researcher of this online research project, says that according to previous research the success rate for New Year’s resolutions is only about 12 %. Wiseman and his team tracked last year the resolutions of more than 3000 people from the US and the UK. Resolutions with the highest success rate (between 24 and 32 %) have been: “enjoy life more”, lose weight, improve fitness, and limit or stop drinking alcohol and/or smoking.
Wiseman says that the sexes should follow different strategies to make success more likely.
Men should follow the rules for SMART goals (see previous blog entry) and divide the” big goal” into easier achievable sub goals. It also helps them to remind themselves frequently of the benefits for their life if they achieve their goals. A helpful structure for men would therefore be to write down a list of benefits and put the list in a place where they see it often.
Women increase their chances of sticking to their resolutions by telling others about them. Therefore Wiseman advises women to go public with their pledges by telling friends and relatives. In addition, women need reminders that slipping up once in a while is no reason for giving up altogether.
As I said in a previous posting, breaking old habits and adopting a new lifestyle needs time. Therefore, be gentle with yourself and take your time. View “failures” to stick to your resolutions as temporary setbacks and try it again.
“Be gentle with yourself and take your time” sounds good to me! As an enthusiastic daily reader blogger, I enjoy discovering these reachable and wise goals. It makes us feel good. I hope there are many more to come. Thanks a bundle.
Cheer!
You are welcome, and cheers to you.
Really??? Do not purchase a Yellow Pages ad? I rnzegoice that it is difficult to measure effectiveness but for some businesses extremely valuable. I know of a local massage clinic that resisted for years and finally a couple of years ago he placed an ad and saw instant response. Every Monday morning he gets a flurry of calls from people who hurt themself on the weekend and perused the Yellow Pages, saw the phrase pain relief and picked up the phone. I would think places like restaurants, water heater replacement, plumber and many others still see huge benefit to Yellow Page ads. Perhaps a specific landing page or promo code in the ad could be used to measure effectiveness. Just my 2 cents Sandi
Happy New Year to all. I’m waiting for the Last Grave, and the next Wolf Springs and Kiss books. Lots of exntiemect! My resolutions are to work 3 times weekly on my book review blog, ride our horses on a regular basis (weight loss and health), and to work more with our fainting goats!
I gave up this habbit since it does not make a sense.
I am trying to reach my goals step by step rather than stressing myslef with things that are not feasible.
Why only New Year’s resolutions?
You are right, setting goals is not restricted to New Year. However, following the guidelines for SMART goals is recommended whenever you set a goal. Taking it step by step is wise. Good luck with your goals!
Mike,great post This is bang on. This is a big mystery to me too when I get the same calls off of my signs and the same reocpnses from the buyer. I never will work directly with the seller and buyer. I’ll always have someone that I work with help the buyer out. Working with both parties does a dis-favor to both. Jared Chamberlainhttp:www.ChamberlainGroup.ca
I don’t really pick just one word but I loved when I saw seonome else’s pick was “learn”. That is my word for life. I love to learn new stuff and have been known to take classes just because a friend was and I have jumped in no matter what the subject!