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New Year’s Resolutions
Okay, we all do this – make completely irrational promises to ourselves and come February they are forgotten. Until New Year’s Eve comes round again. Yes, we want to keep these resolutions but do not think things through. There are two tricks to choosing resolutions that stick – believability and achievability; so let’s use some aviation parallels here to help get the message across.
In order to change any behavior one has to firstly change a belief – that is what I mean by “believability.” When you first considered learning to fly, did you have some concerns that when effecting a steep turn your trusty steed would fall out of the sky? Surely there needs to be air underneath that wing? How can it fly with one wing pointed straight down? Well, you changed your behavior and became a pilot because you changed your belief – you believed that an airplane can fly so you started to behave like a pilot. By that I mean you go flying regularly and wear cutesy t-shirts with N-numbers or catchy phrases emblazoned across your chest.
So applying this believability discipline to your resolutions, please allow me to choose one of the most common ones – weight loss. Given that (a) a huge percentage of the population is overweight; (b) that the holiday period tends to include certain dietary excesses and (c) the media is saturated with discussions about weight loss it should not be surprising that you might have been inspired to commit to lose weight. As you resolved to do this with the same certainty displayed by the Times Square ball as it made it’s slow descent, you were probably oblivious to the fact that just like that famous sphere, your waistline was also destined to pop back up. Why? Belief, or the absence thereof. If indeed this was your resolution, do you honestly believe that your weight is a problem? Most overweight people do not – they accept that maybe their pants are too tight but they do not see their weight as a health problem. If one believed, really believed that being overweight threatens longevity or wellness we would not have the obesity epidemic. The desire for complex issues to be reduced to sound bites has caused us to trivialize many health matters – high cholesterol is reduced to a number instead of the heart attack and stroke risk it may be and being “heavy” – one of many “acceptable” terms - is seen as an inconvenience, not a threat to life and limb.
Now to the second barrier to success – achievability. Using the same example, weight loss, folks tend to try and embark on massive lifestyle changes all at once. Although it is a singularly inappropriate phrase given our topic, if one is going to eat an elephant it is best to do so one bite at a time. Instead of starting a complex diet or signing up for a health club membership try the following simple steps:
- Use smaller plates for meals – we tend to finish what is served to us, so serve less and aim to leave something uneaten on your plate. The dog will be grateful and so will you.
- Do not eat in front of the television but converse with your family or friends while eating – this gives the stomach a chance to send “I am full” messages to your brain and you will eat less.
- Rather than cutting up all food at the start of a meal, cut and eat one bite at a time, placing your utensils back on the table between bites.
- Drink a large glass of water before each meal.
- Choose one thing to cut out per month. Start with the main culprits like carbonated beverages. If you must drink soda, try adding sparkling water to a little pure fruit juice or fresh lemonade. Avoid high fructose corn syrup like the plague. It is like putting water in your fuel tank. It will kill you.
So please believe me and try to achieve something tangible – we want you to stick around until the next new year. And many more thereafter!
January 13, 2011
