New Year's Resolutions, Anyone? How To Create New Habits

It's brand new year with so much possibility! You're full of enthusiasm and ready to make some bold moves. Yay for you for being courageous! How is this year going to be different or better for you? What have you decided you want to do? Have you got one big resolution or a list of small ones?  

Goal-Setting 

Now that you've landed on a goal (or few), the next step is just as courageous: the follow-through. Doing the thing. And even harder...sticking with it. As we all know, goals are easy to make, but even easier to break. Maybe you've decided to learn to play an instrument like the piano. Or you've committed to getting in shape and you're envisioning your svelte body in a new outfit by July. Adopting a new, healthy eating lifestyle might come with that last goal, which can be a big undertaking: diets, recipes, food shopping etc. It's a big ask of your current lifestyle. But you're committed, so now what? 

Goal-setting means creating new habits  

Setting goals is important and admirable; however, it often means making some radical changes in your life. Like me, your day likely starts with hitting the auto-pilot button and going through the usual routine without much thought. But now you have a big new thing to do! Carving out an hour a day to practice the piano. Maintaining the motivation and energy to get to the gym 3 or 4 times a week. Consistently buying fruits and veggies and ignoring the sexy siren call of the Doritos. Yikes. Doing something big is rarely easy, but creating some new habits is what's going to get you to the finish line.  

For many of us though, once the euphoria of how your goals are going to turn you into a shiny new person start to wear off, the reality of meeting those expectations sets in. Ugh. Achieving goals usually takes some work, which is HARD! Like folding-this-stupid-origami-bird kind of hard. How many of us have relinquished goals and ditched good intentions for easier solutions, because creating new habits is tough? Well, me, for sure.  

But knowledge is power, and understanding how your brain deals with something new is actually quite empowering. So let's break down how habits are created and then look at ways to set yourself up for success!  

How new habits are formed 

The phrase "Putting your mind to it" is actually quite accurate. Did you know that creating new habits results in physical changes in your brain? It's called 'plasticity', and it's the process of generating new neural pathways – the connections between brain cells. Think of your brain cells (neurons) as having long arms that reach out to connect with other neurons in other regions of your brain – often several inches in length. Electrical impulses travel along these 'arms' or fiber tracts and when a thought is particularly strong, it sends a bigger impulse along this fiber. This in turn recruits neighboring fibers to join it, releasing their connections with one brain region and then following the first fiber to connect with a new region. Now imagine how these tracts of fibers get bigger and stronger like roads by recruiting more and more fibers with each thought. Consider this analogy: neural pathways start out like small footpaths through tall grass and fallen branches. At the beginning these paths are even hard to find next time you want to use them. In other words, it takes some effort to create and develop them. But the more often they're used, the bigger and stronger they become, developing into roads...and eventually super-highways. The more often a specific neural pathway is used, the more reinforced it becomes.  

Have you ever agonized about why some people achieve their goals and others don't? It's really all about the set-up and anyone can do this, it just takes a little effort.  

So let's look at some methods to increase your success of sticking with your new habits. 

Plan for success 

We live in a world where distractions are everywhere...your phone, the TV, the fridge. Consider how your environment impacts your behavior. The TV remote is sitting right in front of you but the piano is in the other room. (Hint: leave the remote beside the piano.) Your car keys are more accessible than the running shoes in the back of your closet. There are cookies on the table instead of fruit or nut snacks. You may think you're controlling your choices, but in reality, you're highly influenced by what's around you and you're going to respond to it – that's just your default. So change up what's in front of you and be sure the good choices are the ones that are easiest to get to. You need to create a space that allows for healthy choices without thinking about what you're doing. 

I have to add a caveat here: you will have moments of weakness, so it's important not to beat yourself up. (I can't believe I'm giving you this advice because beating myself up is pretty much what I do best.) Do cut yourself some slack, but then get serious. For example, when you've put the Doritos in the freezer, thinking "Out of sight, out of mind" and you realize you've simply developed a taste for frozen Doritos (honest to God, I've done this) – it's time to stop buying Doritos!   

Create achievable goals. 

Learning a new piece of music in a day is not doable. Neither is losing 5 pounds a week or instantly loving broccoli. So take baby steps and don't try to massively alter your current routine. Decide to do the smallest possible amount at first. But do it every day. This is how you create that new neural pathway. Doing something daily, even a minutely small task, will begin to strengthen the connections within your brain. Sit at the piano and just hit some notes and listen to how they sound. Walk a half kilometer instead of trying to run for five. Add something green to a meal every day. Small changes create big results. This will build your confidence, which is a critical factor in achieving success. Once you've gotten into the rhythm of doing a small thing each day, start adding more and increasing your confidence. Taking on too much at once is the best way to kill that confidence so remember: baby steps. Be the slow and steady turtle, not the impatient, overconfident rabbit. 

You've got this. I have faith in you. Go do something awesome this year!