We will open the book. Its pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
-Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Are you still thinking about the coming year? I know I am. It’s an exceptional year to resolve to design some new goals – we have a new decade, all lovely and clean like new fallen snow, or a blank page lying in front of us.

Think of the positive aspects of not doing something. For example, envision how you will feel if you pass up the donut at the office (in control), or how you will look and feel if you keep passing up the donut (slimmer and empowered). Focusing on the negative aspect of a goal (like getting cancer from smoking, or dying of a heart attack from eating too much) has been shown not to be a great motivator. So thinking about the fact that the life expectancy at 50 years old in the U.S. ranks 29th in the world will probably not help to motivate you.

As Americans we are making lots of bad life-style choices, but I’d encourage you to focus on how you’ll feel when you can walk a certain distance without CPR, or how you’ll feel when you fit into a certain clothing size, or how you’ll feel when you smell nice (the smoke cloud being gone); or how you’ll feel when someone asks you how you did it.

Also, don’t think only of the very end of your goal – the big final goal. Spend a few moments thinking about designing some milestones along the way. For example, long-term you may want to change your life-style permanently to include more fruits and vegetables. But if you make quite a few ‘mini-resolutions’ – milestones along the way, you can set yourself up for success; you can even mark it on your calendar, to help you until it’s a habit. An example: I’m going to try a new vegetable each Thursday; I’m going to decide on Monday which vegetable; on Tuesday I’m going to search in my cookbooks or the internet for a recipe that sounds good; I’m going to buy the vegetable on Wednesday; and Voilà, I will cook it and eat it on Thursday. Wow four successes! Each successful mini-resolution helps us feel good – we know we are moving in the right direction.

Also, if you break your major goal into smaller goals, it may not seem so daunting; plus, you will have lots of motivating successes on the way, to continually encourage yourself.

It’s true, it’s almost American to be a little rebellious; but the freedom to ‘super-size it’ is killing us early. It’s making many of us unhappy with our appearance, our health, our quality of life and our abilities. So the point is, if you’re not ready to give up fast food in one decision – one step, maybe you are ready to give up super-sizing; and then the next step may be, to plan and shop for healthful whole foods to make instead of processed fast foods.

If you want to increase your chance of designing goals that are attainable, read the January 2010, Dr. Grandma’s Newsletter, Twenty Thoughts on New Year’s Resolutions. Remember that Good Health Can Be Yummy!  I wish you a beautiful and Happy New Year.

Joyce

2010 The New Year is like fresh snow waiting for footprints.

Even the path to the bird feeder begs for prints in the snow.

A fresh start - a new decade