Avoiding the New Year's Resolution Quit Point

This is the time of year when many people decide to commit or re-commit to some sort of self-improvement. Whether it's exercising more, eating healthier, improving our time with family and friends, these positive ambitions usually fall to the wayside as old habits creep back into our lives and we revert to the status quo. There's nothing magical about this time of year other than we've allowed ourselves to view it as a fresh start, and those opportunities for mental fresh starts can be extremely important when working to improve, as long as Quit Points can be avoided and managed.

The easiest way to avoid New Year's resolution Quit Points is to start with optimism. This does not mean simply having a positive mindset. Instead, it requires a manageable and realistic plan to build small wins into every day that work towards your larger resolution. Setbacks will be inevitable, so stacking several small successes together can help one to maintain a positive outlook even when one gets tripped up along the way. Rather than setting a large goal of losing 25 pounds, which can seem overwhelming and debilitating at times, structure a small winnable goal such as exercise 3 times a week. Setting goals that are too large are likely to cause a Quit Point simply because there are too many opportunities to stumble along the way. Making small victories a daily habit builds optimism, and reduces the likelihood of quitting. Best of luck on your new year of small victories!