.:: Teen Life ::.

Why My Resolutions Fail

by Craig Meyers

Some people seem to do great with their resolutions each year... but I'm not one of those people. I mean well, really I do, but I seem to fail year after year. So this year, after another batch of failed resolutions, I decided to take some time to figure out why I continue to fall short. So I spent a good 30 or 40 minutes thinking really hard about it, and I came up with three reasons my resolutions fail.

I underestimated the amount of sacrifice.

It's always been really easy for me to dream up all kinds of things I'd like to do for New Year's resolutions. Some of them are just for fun (and sometimes goofy), but others are more serious and would help me do better in school, sports and other activities. Maybe I overdo it a bit, but here is my resolution list from this year:

1. Do my homework when it's first assigned.
2. Organize my desk and bedroom so I can find things when I need them.
3. Only eat fast food once a week.
4. Limit World Of Warcraft to one hour a night.
5. Read the Bible for 15 minutes a day.
6. Start a blog and post an entry every day.
7. Go to the gym three times a week.
8. Be in bed by 11pm and up by 6am.

Actually, I think there were more than those, but I had lost the original list by the 3rd of January, so I'm just going from memory.

The main problem I ran into (other than the fact that my list was ginormous), is that I really hadn't thought about how hard it would be to do some of them! I'm on the go almost all the time between school, sports, music, youth group, scouts, and other "extra curricular" activities. In order to stick to some of my resolutions, I was going to have to sacrifice something because I just didn't have any more time to spare.

I never clearly defined the benefits.

Of course, sacrificing something that you enjoy doing is difficult under any circumstances. But it's extra difficult when you don't see more benefit in the new thing than you see in the old thing. Why would I give up something important to me in order to do something that seems less essential?

And thus the second problem I ran into was not taking the time to identify all of the benefits my resolutions would bring to me. Because of that, it was very difficult to convince myself to make the sacrifices needed to stick with my resolutions. I just didn't see them as being more valuable than the things that I was already doing.

I didn't really have a plan.

The bottom line is that I made up a long wish list of New Year's resolutions and that's about all the thinking that went into it. I didn't take the time to really figure out how I would do any of them. I didn't think about what it would take or what I would have to give up or change. Actually, I didn't even consider the fact that I might not be able to just change my habits overnight.

The moral of the story is this...

If you really want to make a change in your life, you need to start with three things:

1. Identify the sacrifices you'll need to make (things you'll need to give up or change).
2. Clearly define the benefits you'll receive from making the change.
3. Create a detailed plan on how you'll make the changes and keep your resolutions.

If you do those three things, then you'll be well on your way to making the changes in your life that you came up with on New Year's Eve. And best of all, you won't need to write a 1,000 word article explaining to the world why your resolutions failed!

Life Applications:

How are you doing on your New Year's resolution(s) so far?
What did you have to sacrifice to achieve your resolution(s)?
How did you benefit from your resolution(s)?

Copyright 2009 by Brandon Jubar
All rights reserved.