Positive Mondays: Why you should make a New Year’s resolution

With a blink, 50 weeks of 2014 have just flown by. We witnessed 11 months of tumultuous change that have been watershed years for India and across the world. Governments have fallen and floods washed away huge swathes of land in what is easily one of the most beautiful states and perhaps my favourite state of the country, Kashmir. Yes, we will have skirmishes at our borders, our ideologies will clash, people will still hurt each other. Positivity propels us further, because the evidence for optimism is overwhelming. For every skirmish, three acts of trans-border charity will overcome the pain. For every ideological, political and gender clash, we will celebrate three more festivals together. For every lover who hurts, six more people will find love. For every hurt, we will generate five or six times the good. For every victim of disease, we will have teams of scientists who will wage a battle and win. For every faulty piece of product, our scientists will find cures to diseases and build better space vehicles. 

The story about humanity at large is never about those big bang investments and projects. India is about these micro stories, which make up our social and economic fabric, who really make the difference in our lives. 

How does it really start? The process of making that difference? Thomas Carlye was asked, how do I make the world a better place. To which, the witty man replied, “Take care of yourself and we will have one less rascal to worry about”. 

Try this, on yet another Monday morning. Think about your life in the future. Imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing all your life goals. Think of this as the realisation of your life dreams. Now write about what you imagined. Tell us how you felt at BestPossibleSelf@gmail.com
Even if you are half my age, then chances are you have witnessed close to an average of 30 cycles of resolutions, and even if you heard an average of 10 resolutions every year, you have heard 300 of them and most of them have failed, and therefore your cynicism of not believing in New Year Resolutions perhaps seems justified.

Let's see the facts. Research proves that just telling someone you will vote, increases the actual chances of walking to the polling booth. Professor Norcross tested if New Year resolvers who made a public declaration of their goals, actually stuck to them, as compared to the non-resolvers. He found that, six months later, 4% of non-resolvers had stuck to their goal. On the other hand, 46% of the resolvers had stuck to their goal. A 10 fold difference. 

That is not all. Resolvers who were confident about their ability to meet their goals, were significantly more likely to achieve their goals. So, confident New Year resolvers not only outscored the non-resolvers, but also the non-confident resolvers. 

Does it sound vaguely familiar? We have a phrase for this. It is called, wait for it, self-fulfilling prophecies. Guess what, it is not a Rhondaesque or Chopraesque or Robinesque theory. This is science at work. 

What kind of goals work? Firstly, they have to be your own goals. If your friends have been forcing you to lose weight, chances are this resolution will not work. Secondly, losing weight to look good or feel healthy will work better than wanting to look good to not feel ugly. Your goal has to be positive, and because you want it, really badly. 

Then you may ask how. Again research shows that just thinking about it helps. Taking action helps even more. David Myers in his Social Psychology textbook has huge evidence which proves that simply doing something, changes the way we feel about it. Once you go for that first walk on January 2, and come back home sweaty and with bones aching, the feeling that losing weight is totally worth it, will take root. Sitting at home is not going to build anything. 

Give yourself a little milestone. You will walk one kilometer or you will lost just a quarter of a kilo in the first week. You feel good when you achieve the first small milestone. You will soon be caught in an upward spiral. 

Therefore, on this Monday morning, wish you a very positive week ahead, and wish you a very happy New Year. 

The author is the Founder of The Positivity Company and also has over 23 years of global sales and service experience. This is a series of articles by the author called 'Positive Mondays' about how positive thoughts can have a multiplicative effect, simultaneously impacting all work and life outcomes.