{"id":5849,"date":"2020-02-05T17:16:55","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helixhouse.co\/proze\/2020\/02\/05\/5-pitfalls-of-new-years-resolutions\/"},"modified":"2021-04-27T16:33:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T23:33:56","slug":"5-pitfalls-of-new-years-resolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/5-pitfalls-of-new-years-resolutions\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Pitfalls of New Year\u2019s Resolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Without fail, thousands of people set themselves up for a new life every January, \u201cNew Year, New You!\u201d and all of that. It\u2019s great, we should all always strive to be the best versions of ourselves, but unfortunately with big, sweeping resolutions come a lot of pitfalls to halt our progress. This time on the PROZE higher education blog, we wanted to point out 5 of the most common New Year\u2019s Resolution pitfalls, so you can avoid making the same mistakes and get the results you\u2019re working for.<\/span><\/p>\n

5 New Year\u2019s Resolution Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them!<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Making General Goals<\/b><\/p>\n

Making your New Year\u2019s resolution too general is a surefire way to fail. When the aim is vague, you\u2019ll never be able to know if you really accomplished it or even if you\u2019re taking the right steps you need. Think like this: general or vague goals are like fog. You can see the edges of it, you know <\/span>about<\/span><\/i> where it is, but you can\u2019t see the path through it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Instead<\/span><\/i>, <\/b>make specific, well-defined goals. If you want to Be Healthier, bring your vision into focus: I will go for a walk every day. To go back to our analogy, the more specific your goals, the more details you can see. Instead of fog, it\u2019s a clear path. You know what you need to do to succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Making Unrealistic Expectations<\/b><\/p>\n

Sometimes the whole New Year, New You thing can sweep people away. They decide to make some seriously <\/span>big<\/b> goals. That\u2019s great, but know that the more grand, extravagant, or serious the change, the harder it is to meet it. When you decide you\u2019re going to lose 200lbs this year the progress you -do- make can feel negligible – and when you feel like you\u2019re not making progress, you\u2019re more likely to quit entirely.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Having Half-Assed Plans<\/b><\/p>\n

A goal without a plan is just a wish.<\/span><\/div>\n
–<\/span>Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry<\/b><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Similar to general goals, the problem can be one of planning or lack thereof. When you\u2019re making a big goal for yourself, you <\/span>need<\/span><\/i> to spend the time to chart a pathway to success! Having a goal but not knowing how you are going to achieve it leaves too many places for the \u2018plan\u2019 to go wrong.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of: \u2018I\u2019m going to work out more, whenever I have the time,\u2019 plan: \u2018I will work out after work,\u00a0 3 days a week at the gym. I will do workouts X and Y.\u2019 The less you leave to chance later, the easier it is to stick to your plans, and the more likely you are to meet your goals!<\/span><\/p>\n

Failing to Overcome Ambivalence<\/b><\/p>\n

Having a resolution and truly wanting to <\/span>change<\/span><\/i> can be two very different things. Remember that with whatever behavior or lifestyle facet you\u2019re looking to change, there\u2019s good and bad associated with it. Remind yourself of the reasons you want to change and the ways that this change will help you become the person you <\/span>want <\/span><\/i>to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Motivating with Negativity<\/b><\/p>\n

Telling yourself that you need to lose weight because you are fat, or that you need to save more money because you are terrible with finances can be counterproductive. When you\u2019re framing your mindset poorly like this, there is <\/span>actual evidence<\/span><\/a> to suggest you could be putting yourself in a self-fulfilling cycle of failure. Break out of these negative ruts and build yourself up!\u00a0 You\u2019re making this resolution because <\/span>you are better and more capable<\/span><\/i> than you give yourself credit, and you can make it a reality!<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep these pitfalls in mind, plan accordingly, and adjust your goals.\u00a0 With this clearer map, set plans, and a positive approach you\u2019ll be able to reach your dreams! You\u2019re a PRo!<\/span><\/p>\n

Goals are meant to be motivating, not points of failure when they\u2019re not met. Don\u2019t beat yourself up if you don\u2019t quite reach them, you\u2019re still improving, still working towards something, and that\u2019s a whole lot better than sitting stagnant!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Without fail, thousands of people set themselves up for a new life every January, \u201cNew Year, New You!\u201d and all of that. It\u2019s great, we should all always strive to be the best versions of ourselves, but unfortunately with big, sweeping resolutions come a lot of pitfalls to halt our progress. This time on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181,180,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-tips","category-higher-education","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proze.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}