By Becky Gillaspy

New Year’s Resolutions are set by the millions every year yet they have a notorious reputation for being broken. Here are some tips on how to increase your chances of turning your resolution into a reality?

1. Decide what you REALLY Want. Scientists have learned that the brain is a goal seeking organ, so the clearer you can be in defining your New Year’s Resolution and keeping your mind focused on that outcome, the higher your chances of achieving it. Think about it this way, you can’t hit a target if you aren’t sure where it is. Take the time before you start dieting or exercising to figure out what exactly you want your outcome to be.

2. Write it Down. Writing down your resolution is one of the keys to achieving it. In fact studies show that people who merely think about their goals are much less likely to achieve them than people who write them down.

A study of Harvard alumni 10 years after graduation illustrates this fact. 83% of the graduates set no goals at all, 14% had goals but did not write them down, and the remaining 3% made specific goals and wrote them down. Who faired the best? The group who had goals but did not write them down earned an average of 3 times the income of the group without them and the 3% who wrote down their goals earned an average of 10 times what the no goal group did. This works out to the difference of millions of dollars.

3. Make Your Resolution Measurable. Now that you have decided what you want transfer that ‘want’ into what you will achieve by stating it in a way that anyone could measure. I want to lose 30 pounds is not nearly as powerful as I will weight 135 pounds when I wake up on Saturday, June 14th. The second is clear and distinct and can be proven by anyone who happens to be with you on the 14th of June.

4. Be Precise. You want your resolution to be a clear bull’s eye, not a hazy approximation. Be as precise as possible with every aspect of your goal – include not only your weight but also how you will feel, what you are doing, what you are wearing or any other detail that stirs your emotions in a positive way.

Sample: Incorrect goal: ‘I want to lose weight’ Correct goal: ‘I will weigh 135 pounds on the morning of

Saturday, June 14th and feel fabulous slipping into my favorite

size 8 jeans.’

5. Eliminate Any Negatives that Surround Your Resolution. In order for your resolution to have staying power it is important to eliminate any negative thoughts or feelings that arise when you think about your goal.

It is not unusual to set a very positive resolution yet still hear that subtle voice in the back of your head whisper, ‘That is going to be too hard.’ or ‘You’ll never be able to do that.’ These thoughts need to be addressed or they will sabotage your chances of success. Your awareness of these distracting thoughts may be all you need to allow them to lose their power. To discover if any limiting thoughts are associated with your resolution write it down on a sheet of paper then below it list any negative thoughts or feelings that come to mind. You can then choose to stop entertaining those thoughts or shift your resolution slightly until they fade.

Once you have created an effective weight loss resolution and written it down you must set it in you mind. So the next step toward reaching your goal is to program it into your mind using the power of repetition. Your resolution is new information for your brain so it will need to be fed the information many times before it believes that this is truly what you want. Read it a minimum of 3 times a day and for the best result read it out loud allowing yourself to meditate for a moment on the positive feeling and emotion you experience when thinking about already having achieved your goal. Your brain will then actively work to bridge the gap between what you have now and what you envision your life to be.

Take these steps and you will set yourself on a straight path toward reaching your New Year’s Resolution.

About the Author: Dr. Becky Gillaspy is the founder of Weight Loss without Worry a website dedicated to connecting you with the resources you need to effectively lose weight. For a free copy of her popular diet, The KISS Principle of Dieting visit her website at

weightlosswithoutworry.com/my-first-step.php

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