Basic Pursuits

Here we are at the start of a new year and many of us are looking to make changes. We summerize our wishes in the term "resolution."

Resolutions are basically wishes and get us nowhere.

Discipline in the beginning in necessary to convert the resolution wish to reality, but it's only the starting motor. The real engine of behavior is habit.

Resolving to "lose a few" after the first of the year is as common as confetti. However, that strategy doesn't work.

What does work is completing the sentence, "Next year I resolve to form the habit of eating healthily for the rest of my life." And then following through. Habit is what delivers the change that we want. And it can and should be permanent.

Small Steps Over Time

The biggest mistake that people make at the beginning of the year is trying to do too much too soon. Cut your calories in half on January 2? You'll be eating more than ever by the Super Bowl.

Leap off the couch and exercise like an Olympian? You'll be back on the couch in a few weeks for the rest of the year.

Humans are the most complex entity we know of. Our wiring is complex. We take a long time to rewire.

Habits form in small increments and in a long time. That's the way your unintentional habits were formed by your ego. (Ego is what the yogis call that automatic pilot that seeks pleasure and avoids pain.)

If you want a new habit, you need to plan it out on your terms and gently excuse your ego from the process.

Plan how you are going to proceed with your new habit. For example, if you want to exercise, you need to focus on planning the habit of exercising. Start slow. Plan to walk around the block or down the street, whatever is right for your current state of conditioning. Plan to do it regularly for at least four days a week for at least two months.

Never forget: it's not the intensity you bring to each session that's important. It's the habit of having regular sessions.

Rehearse in your mind what it's going to be like. How is it going to feel in the winter air? What will you see? Who will see you? How will you react? How will you feel? What will it sound like? You can do a lot of wiring with your imagination.

But be real. Imagine what it's really going to be like forming your new habit. Avoid imagining what you are going to look like at the beach next summer. You may look great, but it's the habit that's going to get you there, not wishful thinking. Be ruthless in staying on task when making your plan.

Plan for permanency

Your new habit needs to be permanent. If you plan to "lose a few pounds" and are successful, the odds are overwhelming that you'll gain them back. That's not a plan for permanency. People lose the weight and then return to the habits that got them fat in the first place. Instead of "I'm going to lose a few," make the change permanent. Make the plan: "I'm going to change from the habit of eating that makes me fat to the habit of eating that maintains a healthy weight for the rest of my life."

Here's to happy new habits in 2009!