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“With this in mind, I have compiled the following cheat sheet for finding the willpower to keep your 2009 New Year’s resolutions – assuming you haven’t broken them already. 1. Prepare your mind Steeling your resolve mentally before things get tough is essential to keeping resolutions, Rangel told me. “That way, when you experience the pain, instead of saying, ‘Oh my God,’ you say, ‘I’ve been expecting this,’ and it becomes part of the process.” He adds ominously that, “If the first time you encounter adversity it sets you off, then you’re probably not ready to take on the challenge.” 2. Create black-and-white rules for yourself Self-discipline becomes easy once habits are formed. Rangel uses the example of brushing your teeth. When you were a child, the rule was “Brush your teeth before bed.” Now it comes automatically and most of us brush our teeth on autopilot. 3. Preserve your energy for when you need it Don’t waste time and mental energy internally debating over life’s trivial decisions – just make a choice and be done with it. Or as William Johnson said, “The more we struggle and debate, the more we reconsider and delay, the less likely we are to act.” So don’t wait until you feel better to go to the gym. Go to the gym and you will feel better. 4. Practice In his massive holiday-season bestseller, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the 10,000-hour rule, a neurological theory that it takes 10,000 hours of hard practice to become a world-class expert – at anything. By this standard, if your resolution is to quit smoking, it will take you roughly a year of doing anything but in order to become good at not doing the thing you are trying to avoid. As for my resolution, things look a bit less hopeful. If practice makes perfect, I should be an expert early riser by the year 2036.”
globeandmail.com: Get up, stay up, don’t give up the fight
