The New Year offers hope for a new start, a positive change in your life. This is the year to be optimistic: Your time has come to make that change. Perhaps your resolution is to devote more time to family and friends, spend less money, lose weight, or quit smoking. A feeling of excitement ensues about the potential possibilities for growth. But, as the weeks pass by, the stress from daily hassles distracts you from your well-intentioned goal. Before you know it, another year has come and gone with little evidence of any progress made in your life.

Fortunately, principles of psychological motivation can guide you in maximizing your potential for change. Research has found that people who successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions utilize a number of strategies to maintain behavior change. Try them out, and make 2005 the year you make that long desired change!

First, sit down and write out the benefits and costs of the behavior you want to change. If you see more benefits to keeping the behavior than costs of the behavior, it is likely you are not ready to change. Work on building an argument about why this change is worth the energy you will have to put into it. Convince yourself that this is the best choice for you, emotionally and rationally.

Once you have built up a case for change, create a plan for change. Successful behavior change is achieved through small steps. Break your goal into small, realistic objectives and give yourself enough time to transition and adapt to your new change. For example, if you would like to quit smoking, begin by creating the goal that you will reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke by five. After you have achieved and maintained this goal for three or four weeks, reduce the number again.

Work toward a series of small specific goals that can be achieved in a specific amount of time. When creating your plan, keep in mind that research shows that maintaining behavior requires at least six months to achieve. Additionally, do not punish yourself for any setbacks you have. Setbacks are a normal part of the change process and do not indicate failure. Many people feel that they should be punished for having the unwanted behavior in the first place, so rather than rewarding themselves for their achievements, they punish themselves for the setbacks they have. This is an ineffective method to modify behavior. Be kind to yourself, reward yourself for the small successes, and try not to beat yourself up for the typical setbacks that occur.

Once you have made the decision to change and have created a realistic plan through which the change will occur, it is then important to accept responsibility for that change. Only you have the power to change yourself and control your behavior. If you start to miss your old behavior, imagine where you will be in 5 or 10 years if you resume your old behavior versus if you maintain your positive change. You can always resume your old behavior if the discomfort becomes too intense, but take one day at a time.

After you commit to changing, tell others about your plans. Research shows that announcing your plans to change to others increases the likelihood you will stick with it. Plus, others will be there to remind you and support you through your changes. At that New Year’s Eve party, tell everyone your plan - loud and proud - you are going to make a change for good!

Jamie Lewis-Smith, M.S. and
Adam B. Troy, M.S. - University of Miami. They specialize in adult psychopathology.