Making Resolutions That Will Stick

There's a story I read as a child in which a king presents a boy with a challenge: if the boy can jump to the top of the castle, he will receive a pet dog. Jumping to the top of the castle seems like an impossible, supernatural feat, until the boy thinks of a clever solution: instead of reaching the top in one giant leap, [spoiler alert!] he begins at the staircase and jumps to the top one step at a time.

Most New Year's resolutions fail because people frame them as vague, general wishes rather than specific, attainable goals. "Lose weight," is a lovely thought, but how do you plan to do it? What does that look like in terms of your actions on a daily basis? What steps will you take to get there?

There are two types of goals: outcome goals and process goals.

In the story, the boy's outcome goal was to reach the top of the castle (well, technically it was to earn his pet dog, but in this case that meant reaching the top of the castle). Other, real-life examples of outcome goals are:

-Lose 20 lb

-Reduce total cholesterol to under 200

-Complete 20 consecutive push-ups -Run a half marathon

An outcome goal is your destination. It's the result you hope to accomplish. It's how you will measure your success. But an outcome goal by itself will fail. Why? Because outcome goals don't provide the steps needed to reach them. You can say, "I'm traveling to Italy!" but unless you purchase the plane ticket, drive to the airport, and get on the plane, you aren't going to Italy. That's where process goals come in.

Process goals are the steps we take to achieve our outcome goals. The process goals for the boy in the story were literally, "Step 1, step 2, step 3..." all the way to the top. They are the items we can accomplish and check off a list on a daily (or weekly) basis. Other examples of process goals include: -Exercise for 30 minutes each day

-Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily

-Run 3 miles, 3 days per week -Start getting ready for bed by 10 PM

And just like outcome goals without process goals are destined to fail, process goals alone are insufficient. Without outcome goals, we have no direction and may grow bored with the process. They help keep us focused on the big picture. Without the outcome goal of reaching the top of the castle, I bet the boy would have gotten tired of jumping and given up somewhere around the second floor. Outcome goals provide answers when we start asking ourselves, "Why am I getting up at at 5 AM to run?" Right, because I want to run a 5k in a few months.

So what does all this look like in terms of making New Year's resolutions? I recommend setting no more than three outcome goals, with three process goals for each. Let's take a look at a few examples:

1. Rather than saying, "I'm going to lose weight!", try this:

-Lose 20 lb by May *Exercise for 30 minutes daily

*Record my food and liquids intake in a journal daily

*Limit myself to three desserts weekly

2. Rather than saying, "I'm going to get stronger!", try this:

-Bench press my weight by the end of the year

*Find a progressive strength training program

*Go to the gym before work 5 days/week to complete program

*Meet with a registered dietitian to make sure my eating habits support my goal

3. Rather than saying, "I'm going to get more sleep!", try this:

-Sleep for 8 hours each night *Avoid caffeine after 2 PM

*Begin getting ready for bed at 9 PM *Remove TV from bedroom