MAKING NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE
(with or without hypnosis support)

Making (and then breaking) New Year’s Resolutions is an American tradition. Each year, 100 million of us say we will make important changes in the coming 12 months. Most New Year’s Resolutions fail within three months. Some don’t make it through New Year's day.

Like to escape this endless cycle of resolution followed by remorse?  Hypnosis can definitely help. Just resolve to call 508-336-4242 or 401-374-1890 to schedule your first hypnotherapy session.

But in the meantime, there are some things you can do on your own. These five simple steps that definitely improve your chances of success. We can boost them with hypnotic programming. But these proven strategies help people make important personal changes from smoking cessation and weight loss to dozens of specific, individual issues. If you make a firm commitment to follow them to the best of your ability, I promise your New Year’s Resolutions have a good chance of becoming your next year’s reality whether you become a client or not.

STEP ONE – Get serious. Begin by looking carefully at your values and the challenges you’ll face in the coming year. Know what you really want before you declare you will spend the next year achieving it. To be successful your resolutions must reflect your true desires not someone else’s wishes for you. People who say, "My husband or wife wants me to quit smoking/overeating/or whatever so I’ll make that my New Year’s Resolution." are usually disappointed. They and their loved ones are left with feelings of failure.

Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions*

Exercise regularly:              37%
Work harder or smarter:      23%
Eat a healthy diet:             13%
Stop or reduce smoking,
drinking, caffeine or
the use of other drugs:        7%
All others:                        20%

*Source: University of Washington Psychology Department

STEP TWO – Keep your goals reasonable, specific and challenging. Avoid general statements like "I will lose weight in the next twelve months." It is far more motivating to set a specific date and weight target. Another trap to avoid is trying to be too ambitious. It may sound wonderful to resolve to regain the waist size you had when you were on the high school soccer team, but is it realistic given that you are approaching your 25th class reunion? Probably not. The problem with this type of resolution is they are really nothing more than empty pipe dreams. It is clear from the start that you never intend to achieve the superhuman goals you set. This makes it easy to decide to not even bother to try.

STEP THREE - Plan a strategy. Decide how you are going to support the change you want and begin to establish short-term objectives. The clearer you are about how you intend to carry out your resolution, the better your chance of success. Include a way to keep your resolutions on the top of your mind throughout the year. You won’t turn your New Year’s Resolutions into realities if you can’t remember them. We all live one day at a time, sometimes an hour at a time, sometimes a minute at a time. And a year is far too long to wait before revisiting your annual objectives. Commit to look at your resolutions once each day and you’ll stand a much better chance of achieving them.

STEP FOUR – Go public. Share your resolutions with at least one other person. Once your resolutions are out in the open they assume a life of their own. People expect you to take action or at least watch how well you do. Breaking a promise to a spouse or friend is more difficult than breaking a secret commitment to ourselves. Naturally, going public adds a greater risk of being sabotaged by the negative thinkers in your life. But there is also a chance you might find a committed partner or coach to keep you moving forward. 

STEP FIVE - Start developing your New Year’s Resolution and its implementation plan today. Don’t wait till 11:59 PM on December 31st. People who wait till New Year’s Eve party to make their resolutions usually don’t keep them very long.

Here are a few questions you should consider
 before committing to any New year's Resolution.

1. Are your resolutions realistic for you?

2. Do your resolutions reflect your true values?

3. Are your goals specific and measurable?

4. Do you have 3 or fewer major resolutions (a few
    strong ones are better than many "nice ideas")?

5. Do you have a plan to achieve your resolutions?

6. Are you prepared to "go public" and ask to be
    held accountable for your resolutions?

7. Are you prepared to revisit your resolutions just about
     everyday in the coming year to make sure you
     achieve your goals?

Hypnosis can help you
increase your chance of success

If you would like to significantly increase your chances of success, why not try hypnosis for a change? With hypnosis you can literally re-program your mind to achieve the results you desire. You will also have a free audio recording of the session to listen to year long for reinforcement to keep your resolution and intention alive.