It’s the first week of January and I’m doing New Year’s resolutions a bit differently this year. Instead of setting ten or more lofty goals and maybe reaching 1.25 of them, I’m narrowing my focus to two at a time. And the two I’m choosing are tiny, little actions that can become routines.
This post contains affiliate links. Using a link from this page, you can purchase ANY item Amazon offers. As an Amazon Associate, I get a small commission at no added cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Change is hard, people. That’s why we fail all too often to follow through on our resolutions. I’m reading a book right now, “Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently” by Caroline L. Arnold. The premise? Focusing on small changes can pay off big time.
Arnold writes, “The new year is a time of restless spirits. After so many holiday months filled with self-indulgence – eating more, drinking more, spending more, letting go – we’re eager to jump on the wagon and reform ourselves straightaway. We seek out shortcuts and gimmicks that promise to speed our transformation, convinced there is some magic formula to make us what we wannabe. Fueling our impatience is the fear that if it takes too long to achieve a goal, we will give up before we succeed. Our mindless rushing blurs our vision, and we fail to observe how quiet habits and hidden attitudes keep us from succeeding… Transformation is a process, not an event.”
Recent research shows we have limited amounts of self-control AND we get tired of making decisions. Decision fatigue is real. That’s why a big goal like always keeping our home neat or never being late again or losing weight and keeping it off are difficult for many of us.
Ideas for microresolutions
Arnold says that the key for her and for others she’s helped is to focus on an explicit and measurable action. Instead of “I will keep my house clean” try “I will make my bed each day before breakfast.” Once the bed-making routine is on autopilot, I can introduce another action like always unloading the dishwasher before breakfast.
Her book looked at microresolutions in many areas: sleep, fitness, diet, clutter, punctuality, spending, relationships and organization. The key is to examine a problem we want to change and break it down into a small, discrete step.
I’ll give you an example. I have a bad habit of falling asleep in front of the TV and waking up well after my bedtime, still needing to change into pajamas, wash my face, brush my teeth and take out my contacts. By the time I finish all that, I’m wide awake and often don’t sleep well. Instead, I could decide to get ready for bed by 9 each night and watch a little more TV or read. When I feel like nodding off, I can toddle off to bed or turn out the light.
I realized for me, the barrier to just going to bed when I was tired was all the steps of getting ready for bed. The answer is to get ready before I am exhausted.
You might make a microresolution to improve a relationship. Call your mom three times a week or adopt a “no cell phones” at the dinner table policy.
Here’s where the accountability of having a blog comes in handy. I’m going to tell you my resolutions for this month. Then I’ll have to come back and report on how it goes.
Arnold cautions readers to limit their microresolutions to two at a time. Most of these little goals take 4 to 8 weeks to become routines (some take longer). The key is focus and motivation. If we try to do too many at once, we overwhelm our reserves of willpower. We start slipping up. Then we give up on all of it in disgust.
Microresolutions to fight two of my problem areas
The microresolutions I plan to adopt this month are in the categories of organization and punctuality. Anyone who knows me well would agree I struggle in those two areas. Suddenly trying to “be more organized” or “always be on time” seems impossible. Instead I could choose doable discrete actions to improve my life.
I have in the past gone through all mail and paid the bills on Sunday each week (or Saturday if Sunday was going to be busy). I’d fallen out of the habit and missed an important bill last month. I’m ashamed to confess my water was shut off because I was sure I’d paid the bill early. Because I missed the late notice in my stack of mail, I had to rush to the utility office and pay an extra charge. Now I’m motivated to go back to my weekly practice. And I put the water bill on automatic payment.
I discovered that method through the Organize 365 podcast. Lisa Woodruff is the author of “The Mindset of Organization” and “How ADHD Affects Home Organization,” a professional organizer and an instructor who helps people become more organized. Her Sunday Basket method of gathering all important actionable papers in one place and going through them once a week got me started on that routine.
I’m not sure what got me out of the habit. Perhaps it was enacting automatic bill payments on most of our recurring bills. Despite that helpful practice, we still get infrequent bills and important notices in the mail.
On the topic of punctuality, I’ve decided that I will get ready to leave a half an hour earlier on the days I have to be at work or church. I’m overly optimistic on how much time it will take me to prepare or to drive somewhere. I always try to do one more thing… My microresolution is to be ready to walk out the door BEFORE I try to do any extra tasks.
My hope is to tackle other issues after I build routines in these two areas.
How about you? What measurable action could you take that would make your life better?