{"source_url": "https://wreg.com", "url": "https://wreg.com/2020/01/01/how-to-succeed-at-your-new-years-resolutions-this-year/", "title": "How to succeed at your New Year\u2019s resolutions this year", "top_image": "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/hypatia-h_38a1e5608f8ef7e1d008b947ff97b4f3-h_19db6bbca47ad66185d0abb2a249bef5.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=1200", "meta_img": "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/hypatia-h_38a1e5608f8ef7e1d008b947ff97b4f3-h_19db6bbca47ad66185d0abb2a249bef5.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=1200", "images": ["https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/ryan-silverfield-1.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://s2.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/post-flair/sharing/images/loading.gif", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/gettyimages-183935702.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/s106534039.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/houston.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/gettyimages-1183391563.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/s105335252.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/hypatia-h_38a1e5608f8ef7e1d008b947ff97b4f3-h_19db6bbca47ad66185d0abb2a249bef5.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=1200", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/hypatia-h_38a1e5608f8ef7e1d008b947ff97b4f3-h_19db6bbca47ad66185d0abb2a249bef5.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=770", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/lebron1.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/s118670850.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/guns-in-class.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/6yoshot.png?w=109&h=60&crop=1", "http://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=11502798&cv=2.0&cj=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/hypatia-h_286a7733e0c60c5b59de3ba57b57286c-h_fe91b9e01c04bb5fceec70da6237c13b.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/hypatia-h_38a1e5608f8ef7e1d008b947ff97b4f3-h_19db6bbca47ad66185d0abb2a249bef5.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=400&h=225&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/i-40-shutdown-still.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/champion.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/caregiver-helping-elderly.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?v=noscript", "https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/plugins/lazy-load-0.7/images/1x1.trans.gif", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/promo402163352.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/bealenye.png?w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/diseases.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/james-wiseman-1.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/new-york.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/promo401861254.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/lemonadeweb.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1", "https://s2.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/localtv-2/img/wreg/logo-gray.png", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/kentuckyap.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&w=109&h=60&crop=1", "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/promo365439507.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=370&h=204&crop=1"], "movies": [], "text": "\u00d7 How to succeed at your New Year\u2019s resolutions this year\n\nNEW YORK \u2014 Do you want to eat better, exercise more, stop vaping or lose weight?\n\nGreat. Now\u2019s the time to set those New Year\u2019s resolutions.\n\nAs we head into a year \u2014 and a new decade \u2014 your first step is to believe you can do it.\n\nThe opposite is also true, said University of Scranton psychology professor John C. Norcross, who has studied resolutions for decades. If you think you can\u2019t do it, you\u2019ll likely prove yourself right.\n\nWhile about 40% of Americans set resolutions around January 1, about 40% to 44% of them will be successful at six months, said Norcross, reporting his results from multiple studies with colleagues.\n\nBut if you believe in yourself, you are 10 times more likely to change via a New Year\u2019s resolution, compared to non-resolvers, when both groups have comparable goals and motivation, he reported.\n\nHere\u2019s how to start yourself on the strongest possible footing this year.\n\nMake it specific\n\nEating better and exercising more are all nice ideas, but they\u2019re too general and don\u2019t give you a plan of action. People often think they lack motivation when the problem is really a lack of clarity, wrote author James Clear in his book, \u201cAtomic Habits.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill out this sentence: I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION],\u201d writes Clear.\n\nIf you want to eat better, be specific: Resolve to add a fruit or vegetable to your lunch every day, limit fast food to once per week, or have dessert once a week.\n\nMake it possible\n\nAvoid resolutions that sound great but are unattainable. In fact, make them them something you will enjoy. They can still be hard, but that doesn\u2019t mean they have to make you miserable.\n\nTo eat better, put that bowl of fruit right next to your lunch bag, so you grab an apple or orange every day. Hate apples? Don\u2019t pick apples. Pick a fruit you are likely to eat.\n\nTo exercise more, you might want to run more. But if you\u2019re a night person, don\u2019t make it harder on yourself by trying to run every morning before work, said Gretchen Rubin, author of \u201cThe Happiness Project.\u201d Do it after work.\n\nWant to meditate? Great. Rubin hates meditating, so she stopped doing it. It\u2019s ok to experiment and stop doing things you don\u2019t like. \u201cKnow who you are, and who you\u2019re not,\u201d she said.\n\nAllow yourself to fail\n\nEveryone screws up. Expect to have occasional slips. But don\u2019t let the occasional missed exercise class or Friday workplace donut throw you off course, explained Norcross.\n\nMost successful resolvers slip in January, but 71% of successful resolvers say their first slip strengthened their efforts through a combination of guilt, increasing awareness of their problem\u2019s severity, and the slip reminding them to refine their plans, he said.\n\nIf you know you\u2019re walking into a high pressure situation, practice saying \u201cno thanks\u201d to your aunt\u2019s apple pie in advance. Even people who don\u2019t like apple pie sometimes still eat it when offered just to be polite. Instead, practice saying \u201cNo, thank you.\u201d\n\nAnd if you do slip? Focus on getting back on track, not the slip. \u201cThe people who show more compassion for themselves are more likely to get back on the horse and try again,\u201d Rubin said.\n\nSet yourself up for success\n\nSee what they tell you: If you\u2019re resolved to spend less time on your phone but grab it as soon as you wake up, put your phone in another room at night. Oh, it\u2019s your alarm, you say? Buy an alarm clock. They cost $6 now.\n\nIf you want to limit sweets, get them out of your house. Stay away from your work\u2019s break room during Wednesday snack time (not that I\u2019m speaking from personal experience at CNN).\n\nKnow yourself\n\nRather than asking you to consider your goals, Clear asks you to consider this two-step process.\n\nDecide the type of person you want to be: A healthy person? A strong person? A writer? A musician?\n\nThen prove it to yourself with small wins over time. Gym classes, weight lifting, writing, practicing. Every time you do something toward the goal of you who want to be, tell yourself that you are becoming that person. (I did my Pilates in the morning before I started writing this piece. It\u2019s part of my goal to be a healthy person.)\n\nMake it public\n\nIf you\u2019re surrounded by supportive friends and family, making your goals public and asking for accountability can help. So can joining a gym with friendly competition or a group like Weight Watchers.\n\nThe resolution guides I spoke to agreed to go public with their resolutions: Norcross resolved to stop multitasking in 2020, and he had already started practicing during our telephone interview. (After he mentioned it, I did feel like I had his full attention.)\n\nPsychologist Lisa Damour, author of \u201cUnder Pressure\u201d about the lives of teen girls, plans to focus on meditating in 2020, despite having two children and a more-than-full-time career.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m going to start at five minutes daily,\u201d she said, crediting James Clear with starting a daily \u201catomic habit\u201d before trying for more.\n\nRubin is going to try to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every day she\u2019s home in Manhattan, a few blocks from the museum.\n\nWhile that sounds like a tall order, it\u2019s also the subject of her next book \u2014 so it\u2019s huge motivation to explore and learn from her new workplace in the new year.\n\nShow (don\u2019t tell) your children\n\nParents can open the door to a conversation with their children about resolutions by talking about their own reflections and hopes for the new year. They can mention that it\u2019s hard to meet their own goals, and that perfection is not the goal.\n\nParents can bring up the changes they want to make and model how they want to make those changes, said Damour. It\u2019s important to bring it up without criticizing, she said.\n\nWith children under age 10, parents can take the lead in a discussion about where family members have room to grow, she said. Once your children get to adolescence, don\u2019t give them any ideas, she added.\n\n\u201cParents should work with the assumption that no normally developing teenager wants to be told what to do,\u201d said Damour. If the teenager is quietly doing the right thing and the parent suggests it, kids will likely stop doing it.\n\n\u201cMost of how we guide young people is modeling the behaviors we want,\u201d she said. \u201cIf what you say and do don\u2019t match, a teenager will notice and call you on your hypocrisy.\u201d\n\nChange it up\n\nDo you just hate the idea of a resolution for the entire year, seeing an entire year of failure ahead of you? Follow in CNN Features Editor David Allan\u2019s footsteps and set yourself a year of 12 monthly micro-resolutions. In 2018, he eliminated one behavior each month \u2014 think alcohol, sweets, screens around his kids, saying the word \u201clike\u201d \u2014 and noted the impact of his mood and the effect on himself and his family.\n\nIt went so well, this past year he decided to add something to his life every month, including meditation, movement, active listening and more sleep.\n\nGetting enough sleep didn\u2019t go so well for him one month, so he swapped it out. He wrote his own rules, so he could change them and therefore succeed. And you can, too.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": ["news", ""], "tags": [], "authors": ["Cnn Wire"], "publish_date": "Wed Jan  1 00:00:00 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "As we head into a year -- and a new decade -- your first step is to believe you can do it.", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/9bc3246fbdba300537a296bf9ad07b3c?s=32", "meta_data": {"apple-itunes-app": "app-id=324690258", "viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1, user-scalable=no", "description": "As we head into a year -- and a new decade -- your first step is to believe you can do it.", "keywords": "news,", "google-site-verification": "uJnF6Q7vJP3k7pEVLotNZ8dGfBwvCzC3at_F3MZ_CA4", "msvalidate.01": "9CC50DB4C5614EA88B5CFA75E33AAB02", "generator": "WordPress.com", "og": {"type": "article", "title": "How to succeed at your New Year\u2019s resolutions this year", "url": "https://wreg.com/2020/01/01/how-to-succeed-at-your-new-years-resolutions-this-year/", "description": "As we head into a year -- and a new decade -- your first step is to believe you can do it.", "site_name": "WREG.com", "image": {"identifier": "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/hypatia-h_38a1e5608f8ef7e1d008b947ff97b4f3-h_19db6bbca47ad66185d0abb2a249bef5.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=1200", "width": 1200, "height": 674}, "locale": "en_US"}, "article": {"published_time": "2020-01-01T15:00:44+00:00", "modified_time": "2020-01-01T15:00:45+00:00", "publisher": "http://www.facebook.com/wreg3", "author": "http://www.facebook.com/wreg3"}, "twitter": {"creator": "@3onyourside", "site": "@3onyourside", "text": {"title": "How to succeed at your New Year\u2019s resolutions this\u00a0year"}, "image": "https://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/hypatia-h_38a1e5608f8ef7e1d008b947ff97b4f3-h_19db6bbca47ad66185d0abb2a249bef5.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=640", "card": "summary_large_image"}, "word-count": 1234, "fb": {"pages": 114737265221655}, "ia": {"markup_url": "https://wreg.com/2020/01/01/how-to-succeed-at-your-new-years-resolutions-this-year/?ia_markup=1"}, "application-name": "WREG.com", "msapplication-window": "width=device-width;height=device-height", "msapplication-task": "name=Subscribe;action-uri=https://wreg.com/feed/;icon-uri=https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/9bc3246fbdba300537a296bf9ad07b3c?s=16"}, "canonical_link": "https://wreg.com/2020/01/01/how-to-succeed-at-your-new-years-resolutions-this-year/"}