Keeping New Year resolutions a tall order

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NEW year is as good a time as any to start a journey of self-improvement.

There are lots of things, especially about ourselves, that we have been meaning to fix. As the saying goes – new year, new you.

But how do we go about embarking on this life-changing voyage? For many of us, it’s the time to think about making New Year resolutions.

Continuous failure to keep New Year resolutions has probably left many of us wiser. But if we go on the science, we are not alone.

In a recent study, it was found that about 90 per cent of the 5,000 people monitored failed to make good their resolutions.

The outcome was even gloomier in another study which showed only about 10 per cent of people were successful in achieving their resolutions (with nearly 30 per cent flunking out within the first week).

However, there is a silver lining. Many of the studies have also documented the steps taken by people who successfully achieved their New Year resolutions.

One goal at a time. According to a psychologist, the willpower of most people is so limited and easily taxed that if they do one thing, they find it hard to do everything else. So the solution is quite obvious – focus on one resolution at a time, and when it becomes a habit, work on something else.

Another study that looked directly at how people achieved their goals found that they all had one common strategy – breaking their resolutions into smaller steps.

This had a monitoring effect of letting them know exactly how they were doing as well as making the goals easier to achieve by allowing people to focus on one thing at a time.

The study also found that “simply visualising the end goal dooms people to failure.”

Many such ideas were frequently recommended by self-help experts but test results suggest they simply don’t work.

“If you are trying to lose weight, it’s not enough to stick a picture of a model on your fridge or fantasise about being slimmer. To achieve your goals, plan how you’ll get there,” the study noted.

Tell family and friends. Making New Year resolutions known to friends and family has two effects – first, they’re more likely to support you if they know what you’re trying to do (the carrot) and secondly, you’ll feel bad if the next time they ask you about your resolutions, you say you failed (the stick).

A psychology professor once tracked 270 businesspeople as they tried to achieve certain goals. He divided them into five groups and gave each a different method to use.

The professor found that those who shared their goals with a friend (through sending weekly updates) were over 30 per ceht more successful in accomplishing their goals.

Eating unhealthy food or sitting around watching TV is immediately rewarding whereas the reward from working out at the gym might not come until many months where you notice weight loss.

Most of us are aware of this but to stay motivated when changing behaviour, psychologists say we need to make sure that the new, healthy behaviours are rewarded regularly. Pick activities that are rewarding by themselves or add rewards.

Now, for motorists in Kuching, orderly parking is one New Year resolution they should make and try to fulfill.

The reason is that illegal parking in the state capital has reached nightmarish proportion.

One blatant incidence of indiscriminate parking that occurred at Kenyalang Park market earlier in the week is a good example.

Patrons were upset with vendors who converted the front drop-off zone at the market into a permanent parking space.

According to reports, to make matters worse, some of the vendors made this drop-off zone their free personal private parking.

Apart from causing traffic congestion, these vendors were also alleged not to have taken kindly to anyone trying to park at “their spots.”

And this despite the local council having provided ample parking lots at the lower ground floor of the market and negotiated with the parking contractor to provide vendors with special reduced price season parking.

This is just one of the many instances where the by-laws on parking had been deliberately breached. There must have been heaps of similar cases that have gone unreported.

Illegal parking has always been a headache, especially in Kuala Lumpur, but the problem has caught up in Kuching.  It is against the law everywhere to park illegally.

The authorities should act without fear or favour in napping the culprits. In fact, they should make this their number one New Year resolution. If they do – there is no reason why they should not – they can be assured of support from all law-abiding citizens.