By Christopher Bennett
Special to The Freeman
BROOKFIELD — If handled poorly,
your New Year's resolution will likely
hurt you more than help you. Unreal-
istic resolutions are more counter-pro-
ductive than no resolutions at all.
Think of the last resolution you set
that ended in failure. It was likely
grandiose, and started with glorious
intentions. You thought big, and then
you crashed and burned.
The reasoning behind your failure is
simple.
"In setting the new goal, they shoot
for the goal so far in advance of just
ever realizing the small steps they
should take to develop
the new, healthy habit,"
said Patty Jackson,
THRIVE! Life Services
Owner and a Master
Life Coach. THRIVE!
Life Services, LLC is
located at 240 Regency
Court, Suite 201.
The problem with set-
ting unrealistic resolutions is the
accompanying negativity when those
resolutions do not go well. In a recent
interview with Business Insider, social
psychologist and Harvard University
associate professor Amy Cuddy said
unreasonable goals damage self-worth.
"We're really bad at setting reason-
able goals," Cuddy said. "And when we
don't meet an unreasonable goal, we
fill ourselves with feelings of anxiety
and lower our self-worth."
Jackson's advice is to instead frame
resolutions as intentions, and start
small. "Resolution" sounds like a hard
and fast maxim from which there is no
deviation. "Intention" lets one attack
the issue on their own terms.
"In my experience, because I've been
working with people for a while, set
intentions instead of resolutions,"
Jackson said "It is my intention to be
healthier. It is my intention to exercise
five times a week."
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T H I S M O N T H
JANUARY 2015
See RESOLUTIONS, PAGE 3A
Set intentions, not resolutions
SPORTS
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Small steps can lead to big success in new year
Jackson