Top 10 Commonly Broken New Year’s Resolutions

(ref: http://www.time.com 1/3/2011, 1/3/2012)

To file under “Promises, Promises”, here is a list of the top ten New Year’s Resolutions made and broken according to Time Magazine.

1. Lose Weight and Get Fit
2. Quit Smoking
3. Learn Something New
4. Eat Healthier and Diet
5. Get Out of Debt and Save Money
6. Spend More Time with Family
7. Travel to New Places
8. Be Less Stressed
9. Volunteer
10. Drink Less

And from Time Magazine, 1/3/2012 here’s a list to help you beat the odds…

5 Tricks To Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick

Based on an article by Gary Belsky & Tom Gilovich

1. Limit your promises
   Although it’s tempting to pursue several related goals at the same time (losing weight, quitting smoking, exercising more), it’s likely more productive to stagger resolutions.

2. Write them out
   Research suggests that it helps when we put pen to paper before embarking on projects.

3. Involve a friend
   Teaming up with others is particularly powerful given our social natures and reluctance to let other folks down.

4. Get out of your own way
   If you want to cut late-night snacking, throw out your snack food. If you want to stop abusing credit cards, close your accounts. If you want to save more, use direct deposit rather than asking yourself to write a check or transfer funds every month. Removing Y-O-U from a New Year’s resolution is a great way to achieve it.

5. Expect missteps
   Research suggests that contemplating unpleasant or surprising future outcomes will make you less likely to overreact to them. There’s no guarantee, but encountering a problem you’ve even briefly anticipated might just give you that small boost of comfort or self-esteem that will translate into useful self-control.