Why New Year can be the Worst Time to Make Changes in Your Life

 

It’s a new decade, the holidays are over, and you want to make big changes in your life. But before you do – wait a minute. This may not be the best time.

Millions of people start a New Year with resolutions to stop smoking lose weight and give up alcohol. It makes logical sense to coincide these types of changes with the ringing in of a new calendar year.

But New Year resolutions are the wrong way to change our behaviors.

Bad habits are hard to break and trying to eradicate all our bad habits at once is doomed to failure.

Attempting to stop smoking and lose weight at the same time is an overload on our willpower – which is weak anyway.

You’ll have better success if you focus on overcoming one bad habit at a time and not relying on willpower alone.

Scientists believe the brain area largely responsible for willpower is located in the prefrontal cortex just behind the forehead. It’s an overworked area to begin with as it takes care of our focus, short-term memory and abstract problems. So there’s not much left for willpower, which is why most humans have weak willpower.

Now you can see why asking it to give up cigarettes, and lose weight and abstain from alcohol is too much for our willpower to manage and you end up succumbing almost before you start.

Overtaxing the prefrontal cortex results in our brain giving into temptation with the result we smoke that one cigarette, or eat just a small piece of cake or a beer when with friends. And we confirm what we’ve known all along… we have weak willpower.

Does this mean most of us are doomed in our habits?

No, it just means we need to set ourselves up for success and not get caught up in artificial dates and times.

There is nothing wrong about setting one New Year’s resolution to stop smoking for instance. But tackle that first. Consider seeking professional help rather than going “cold turkey” and relying on willpower alone.

After all few people who want to lose weight do it without a diet plan and usually combine it with an exercise program. People seek out professional help with dietitians and join a gym to ensure they have an exercise program for their level of fitness.

Why would you treat quitting cigarettes differently and not prepare just as diligently?

Hypnosis aids our willpower by providing it the support of our subconscious mind. It can be used to tackle smoking, weight issues and addictions. But a hypnotist would recommend breaking one habit at a time and the timing should be when you’re ready and not with the sound of a New Year.

So choose the habit to break and then set about deciding on the timing when you’re ready – and not before.

Finally, if smoking is the habit you’ve decided to crush and you’re interested in more information about my own online or in-office sessions then check out my stop smoking hypnosis programs.

Erika Slater, CH
Director
Free At Last Hypnosis