The secret of successful New year’s resolutions

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Most of us probably have probably struggled with new years resolutions of one kind or the other. It is all too common to fail on a commitment. We might show up a day or two, or a week, but even if we have some early motivation boost it often goes away after a while. It is like the first phase of a loving relationship. The initial period is filled with passion which fills us with energy. We feel that we can do anything! That phase cannot last forever, and neither can the initial joy of taking up a new skill. Honestly, it gets kind of boring after a while! (The skill practice, not the relationship ;) ). I have done several projects by now. New years resolutions are among the best things I know, and I never fail them. The secret? Keep it simple and be consistent. Do something every day for 365 days and it is physically impossible to not get at least decent at it. If you miss one single day, you will fail.

From my experience, I have learned that the key to consistency is to eliminate all thresholds. You must choose a daily activity that is so simple to perform, that even if you have the worst possible days and no motivation at all, you still cannot find any excuse to not show up. Never forget, it is YOU who choose what the daily activity should be. And I am now convinced that the reason that so many new years resolutions fail, is that people set the bar way too high. Do the complete opposite! Set it so low that it is laughable. One minute. That is a good start. No matter what happens in your day, if you cannot find 60 seconds to invest in a process that will enrich your life in a direction of your own choice, you are lying. If you want to build muscle, gain some strength, maybe one hour per day is a reasonable target. Perhaps – but NOT for a beginner. Start with one minute of daily exercise. Because if you cannot exercise consistently for one minute per day, you cannot never do it for an hour either. It is that simple.

I can promise you, that if you invest that one minute per day, the habit will grow on you and pull you in. When you gain skill, you will want to do more. The minute will become two minutes, and five. Maybe fifteen after some weeks, and so on and so forth, until one day when suddenly maybe you are even paying your bills with a skill that started our one minute per day. It might also be that you have a fixed goal that you want to reach, which you can tick a box and say you are finished. That is fine too. Set your goals, aim at them, and start showing up. After all my years of daily practice I think that the way to do any kind of skill learning, is to define a minimum practice time per day. You are not allowed to reduce the daily time below the minimum limit, but if you feel the flow, it is okay to keep going. But it is never allowed to reduce it.

When I do my daily habits, it is very rare to feel a surge of inspiration. About 95% of the time it feels like a chore, but because my bar is set so low, I can still execute. And that’s all it takes. If you start at point A and are travelling a distance of x to point B, you WILL succeed if you progress a daily distance of y. It is only a matter of time and failure is impossible. That’s where I find the joy in the process. The knowledge that the goal is just coming closer every day.

Have you ever done a new years resolution that involved something as ridiculous as a one-minute activity per day? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear if someone else has tried this method and how it worked out for you.