New Years resolutions are the best explanation to the great question of why its so hard to change a behavior. Before the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31 every year millions of people around the globe list down their New Year’s resolutions hoping to archive them but for the most people its just like the year before, nothing really changes. 

The only difference between people who stick to their new habits and those who don’t, is that the former looks for reasons why they failed previously and avoid to do common mistakes. 

I’ll give you simple tips that can help you make progress with most of the goals you have, 

Don’t try to Change Everything at Once 

At the start of a new year, we experience an intense rush of excitement and motivation to change our lives for the better, and begin to pursue many goals, The problem is often we fail to recognize that this newfound motivation is an artificial high that’ll only last for a few 

weeks, once its gone we lose focus and eventually give up. You should focus on changing a very small number of habits at the same time or Pick one thing and do it well. 

Don’t make a backup plan (just yet) 

I red somewhere that “You might want to wait until you have done everything you can to achieve your primary goal first” or on the other word don’t make a backup plan, just yet. 

Having a backup plan undermines your likelihood of success. Even by putting a little effort into thinking about alternatives makes you work less hard to achieve your goal. Research from the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison backs this up. 

What I’m trying to say is You need to always act as if failure is not an option, If you prepare for failure, you may be more likely to fail. I’m not suggesting that you always avoid making backup plans. But maybe you could hold off on doing so until you’ve put as much effort as possible into your primary goal. 

Starting With a Habit That is Too Big 

Have you thought about the relationship of big thinking to success? Did something work out better when you started smaller? You know the answers, The bigger a project seems, the less likely you are to do it because it seems like too much effort. So if you really want to form better habits start really, really small–one pushup at a time. 

Success doesn’t happen in an instant. It happens through the progression of lots of little successes, strung together over time. 

Failure to change environment 

We often rely completely on willpower to stick to habit change, but in practice that rarely works. Much better is changing the environment around you. 

In one study conducted on “habits vs. intentions,” researchers found that students who transferred to another university were the most likely to change their daily habits. They also found those habits easier to change than the control group because they weren’t exposed to familiar external cues. 

The Rule of Never Miss Twice 

Look, you WILL mess up and slip on your habits. And it’s OK, The rule of thumb is that when you fail, you get back on the horse immediately so that you never miss twice. 

I find the “never miss twice” mindset to be particularly useful. Maybe I’ll miss one workout, but I’m not going to miss two in a row. Maybe I’ll eat “kiepe yai”, but I’ll follow it up with a healthy meal. You know where i’m going with this. 

If you follow the rule of “Never Miss Twice” you can fail your way to any goal you desire. 

By Sadock Gratian