January | 2024 | She Soars psychiatry, LLC

How’s that New Year’s resolution coming along? As I write this, we are just over a week into 2024, which means according to researchers, it has been long enough for 23% of us to have not maintained our 2024 aspirations. Still going strong? Kudos to you, but if February rolls around and that resolution has taken a back seat, you are still in good company alongside an estimated 43% of folks who shared your month-long resolve. If that resolution happens to stick, count yourself as one of the elites as research suggests that only 9% of Americans who make resolutions, actually complete them (Batts, 2023).

With the natural transition of the New Year and the chance to throw a new calendar on the wall, many of us are filled with the hope of a fresh start and the collective motivation to improve. The outcomes we daydream about are alluring. A healthy body, financial freedom, a new career…We envision the bikini on the beach, the feeling of being debt free, and the pride of moving up on the “ladder”. Identifying a desired outcome is easy. Identifying the process of implementation is where a lot of us get stuck in the mud. Here are five ways we can make our journey to change more sustainable…

“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”
-Japanese Proverb

Identify your personal “WHY”

Core values are one of my primary areas of focus in my job. Knowing our top tier values can help provide an internal compass, foundation of discernment, and natural filter that decisions and goals must pass through. If we make a goal, but the “WHY” behind that goal is unclear or hollow, it is unlikely that our efforts to maintain will surpass life’s inevitable obstacles. WHY is your resolution important? Is your WHY really your own? Is it based on a “should do” or does your why belong to somebody else? If pleasing somebody else overrides pleasing ourselves, we might get some work done, but it can sometimes come at the cost of resentment and burnout.

Productive versus busy

Many of us operate in a way where productivity and thinking deeply are mutually exclusive. It is easy in our go-go-go world that we operate more in a state of reactiveness vs proactiveness. We can get into a cognitive tunnel where we are simply reacting to the next demand—a persistent game of triage that leaves little time for reflection or reevaluation. Being productive means that we can most efficiently align our time and energy to the values that are most important to us. This means we actually have to take a step back and think about what those values are and how we might shift our time and energy to better support them. Otherwise, it is so very easy for resolutions to get lost in the hustle.

Don’t be so ambitious

As somebody who loves the next good project, I need to remind myself to cool off once in a while…smell the roses for a bit and remember the value of simplicity. The big project or the sweeping change might be sexy, but we just aren’t wired too well for that. Start small and follow the S.M.A.R.T goal-setting protocol (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). If you want to run a marathon and you have been sitting on the couch, it’s better to focus on mile 1.0 than mile 26.2.

Accountability matters

Don’t keep your goals to yourself. Invite trustworthy folks to provide you with constructive accountability. Hire a coach, join a networking group, pursue your goals alongside friends. Spend time with people who can help illuminate your options and expand your horizons. We only see what we can see at the time.

Obstacles are inevitable

Change is rarely easy. Often, the pain of not changing must be greater than the pain of changing to actually change. We can become very comfortable with existing or operating in ways that may be in opposition to what we hope for, but we stay put because they are familiar. If we embark on change, we must expect some headwinds and to be thrown off course from time to time. Reconnecting to our values, our WHY, and reaching out to our systems of accountability partners can help right the ship.