The month of January is named after Janus, the god of doors, gates, and transitions in Roman mythology. The statue of Janus is portrayed with two faces – one facing the past and the other facing the future. Ancient Romans believed Janice ruled over life transitions such as births, marriages, and deaths. It’s easy to find a connection to New Year’s resolutions that get made at this time of year.
According to research done on the website insideoutmastery.com almost 40% of US adults set New Year’s resolutions. The younger you are the more likely you are to do so. Approximately 60% of young adults between 18 and 34 have New Year’s resolutions. The top 3 are all health related. 9% successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions.
So why do New Year’s resolutions fail? Top reasons include losing motivation, being too busy, and changing goals and priorities. No surprises here.
The surprise I discovered is that for those who are successful, they “are likely to experience 14 slip-ups during a two-year interval, indicating that resilience or the ability to bounce back from setbacks is essential for goal success.”
Author James Clear suggests that we focus on the kind of person we want to become rather than the habits we want to start or stop. Perhaps we should set a New Year’s resolution to become a person of resilience.
The staff at the Mayo Clinic provides 6 strategies for becoming a more resilient person.
- Get connected. Building relationships with friends, family, and coworkers provides a solid level of support to encourage you during challenging times and cheer for you and your successes.
- Make every day meaningful. Be intentional. Choose something meaningful for your list of things to accomplish each day. Choose something that you will be proud of getting done. This builds momentum and self-esteem.
- Learn from experience. When you succeed take note of what you learn and can apply in the future. When you don’t succeed, interpret it as a learning experience, not as failure.
- Remain hopeful. Cultivate a healthy belief in yourself. Adhere to the idea that if you do the right things eventually you will get the right result.
- Take care of yourself. Practice basic healthy routines like getting enough sleep, eating properly, avoiding anything that drains your energy and enthusiasm, and set aside time to do things that you enjoy.
- Be proactive. Don’t ignore problems or concerns. Acknowledge, create a plan, and take action to resolve issues sooner rather than later.
Make resilience an identity-based habit. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits has a free course “30 Days to Better Habits” that you can join by going to https://jamesclear.com/30-days and enrolling.