Getting a kick start on your new year’s resolutions

Acting on small changes now will give you a head start in your quest for a happier and healthier you in 2018.

This new year, I’m going to get fitter. Eat more greens. Cut down on my drinking. Learn how to cook that miso-glazed fish and soba noodle dish. Get more sleep.

Attempting to form positive new habits in January is as traditional as a turkey and ham feast on Christmas day. But unlike the mission for that elusive car space at that jam-packed silly-season shopping centre, your New Year’s resolutions actually don’t have to wait.

Implementing small changes in your life now can give you a significant head start in your quest for a happier and healthier you in 2018.

Dr Megan Oaten holds a senior lectureship with School of Applied Psychology at Griffith University on the Gold Coast, and having completed a PHD in behavioural change, has been performing active research in this field for the past 15 years.

According to Dr Oaten, the key to lasting change is avoiding overambitious goals, however well intentioned these may be.

“When you’re talking about making a start on New Year’s resolutions, the big thing is not to take on too many things at any one time,” says Dr Oaten, who is also founder of Behave Yourself Consulting, which promotes behaviour change, leadership strategies and wellbeing in the corporate world. “The moment you’re trying to control 20 different behaviours at once, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

“So what we often see is at the start of the year, is people say they’re going to eat right, give up smoking, go the gym, go to bed early, and they’re going to embark on all manner of behavioural change, which is fantastic, but first they really should just concentrate and conquer one behaviour.

“Because the good thing is when you do that with one behaviour, you normally have flow-on effects; other things will improve as a function of that, and you’re also learning some really important skills about self-control.”

In research published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Dr Oaten and Prof Ken Cheng established that after putting subjects through a two-month exercise regime, participants not only reaped the physical benefits of their activity, but reported significant decreases in negative behaviours such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, eating junk food, spending impulsively and losing their temper.

So the message: choose the one healthy habit that you want to form, or bad habit that you want to break, and focus on that.

The next step is putting real consideration into identifying the triggers for your behaviour and how you can disrupt these. “A person might make an undertaking that they’re going to quit smoking in 2017, they’re going to kick the habit,” says Dr Oaten. “But there are lots of things about that particular behaviour that are influenced by a person’s environment. It might be that they socialise at the pub with their friends and have a beer, and that’s the time where they really struggle.”

Strategies to combat these negative triggers might include reducing the amount of alcohol you consume, going to a different bar, catching up at a venue like the movies instead, or even having a wine instead of a beer and anything you can think of to try to disrupt those old patterns in advance.

The important thing to acknowledge about your New Year’s “pre-solution” is that there are probably going to be lapses, especially over a period where summer, Christmas parties and holidays all converge. And that’s totally OK. “You have to just acknowledge what it is,” says Dr Oaten. “It’s a slip-up, it’s not end of days, it’s not all over because you’ve had a minor setback. So don’t stress about it. “I’ve got lots of evidence in the research I’ve done that shows when people are stressed out, they spend so much self-control dealing and trying to manage that stress that all other behaviours that they’re trying to manage just go out the window. It’s just being realistic that Christmas can be a crazy time of year, and accepting that.”

Staff writers come from a range of backgrounds including health, wellbeing, music, tech, culture and the arts. They spend their time researching the latest data and trends in the health market to deliver up-to-date information, helping everyday Australians live healthier lives. This is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances. The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances.

Disclaimer:
The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as financial, medical, health, nutritional, tax or other advice. It does not take into account any individual’s personal situation or needs. You should consider obtaining professional advice from a financial adviser and/or tax specialist, or medical or health practitioner, in relation to your own circumstances and before acting on this information.