New Year – MindNation Blog

Achieve happiness, productivity, and work-life balance with the right New Year’s resolutions

It might feel a little hard to come up with a resolution this year given all the uncertainties, and some of you might just want to take it “day by day”. But the new year brings new hope, and resolutions help us with our direction on how we want to improve this coming New Year.

Ultimately, everyone’s goal is to become healthier, happier and productive in both professional and personal lives. Below are some resolutions that can take you there:

Do something you love everyday.

In their book “First, Break All The Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently,” authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup organization interviewed 80,000 managers and discovered that those who answered “Yes” to the question “Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?” were more likely to be happy and productive at work. So find out what fuels your passion, whether it’s related to work or a personal endeavor, and make time for it everyday.

Have daily me-time.

When you are a manager or entrepreneur, you will most likely spend every minute of your workday doing something for others. Then when you shift to home mode, there are the family needs to contend with.

So resolve to set time aside for yourself everyday to do something that is different from what you’re already doing all day long. Exercise, journal, meditate, nap, play with your pet, water your plants, or do any other activity that relaxes you.

Give yourself a pat on the back when you deserve it.

The Gallup study also found out that people who received praise or recognition for their work in the last week were more happy and productive.

Obviously, you cannot (and should not) rely on your boss or colleagues to heap praises at you. Instead, make it a point to recognize yourself for your stellar efforts. One way to do this is to keep a “Sunshine Folder” — literally a folder in your computer (or an envelope for hard copies) that contains positive feedback, thank you letters, and other reminders of your accomplishments.

Learn something new every day.

Is your daily routine starting to get, well, too routine? The good news is you don’t have to take up an extreme sport to venture out of your comfort zone. By simply paying more attention to your intellectual wellness, you can make room for growth, improvement, and learning which can be useful at work. Use reading challenges to build a reading habit, or subscribe to Google Alerts to receive articles on topics that interest you everyday. If reading is not really your thing, engage in healthy debates with a friend, learn a musical instrument or foreign language, or watch more documentaries on tv.

Renew professional contacts and network

Look up old colleagues, engage in small talk with co-employees from other departments, and attend webinars that relate to your profession. You’ll benefit from these in the long run.

Practice professional courage.

What do you usually do when an issue occurs at work? If you’re the type who shies away from addressing the problem, make 2021 your year to take charge. Speak your mind — just don’t do it rudely or argumentatively; be polite, concise, and impersonal. When you stand up for yourself, colleagues will admire you and you will prevent relapses from occurring.

Learn to listen more, talk less.

If a team member confides a problem to you, resist the urge to step in and fix it unless they expressly ask for advice. More often than not, they just want a sounding board, not necessarily a problem-solver. By listening empathetically you allow their emotions to become “unstuck” and can even empower them to solve their problems on their own.

Track everything

Planner apps are great for keeping an eye on your work tasks, so how about keeping track of your personal goals too? Invest in personal exercise trackers so you can keep track of steps, calories consumed, weight, sleep, and exercise. They can boost your confidence when you see your progress, and free up your mind from the tiny details that can be very taxing at the end of the day.

Take up a new hobby or activity

Resolve to let 2021 be the year you take the first steps in participating in an activity or interest that you’ve always been interested in, whether it’s photography, redecorating a room, or a new sport. You’ll add a new dimension to your world, and this can positively interact with your business success.

Laugh more

As a manager, it’s easy to get bogged down in serious matters like deliberation, advising, and problem-solving as you strive for business success. But take time to smile, laugh, and joke more — yes even during work hours (just make sure the jokes are appropriate). You don’t have to become best friends with your team, but there’s also no need to constantly be their parent either.

While seemingly simple, it may be hard to get these recommended resolutions done all at once. So, pick a couple that resonates with you, you’re likely to stick with, and tackle those first! And if you falter, don’t give up; restructure it so it’s more doable and try again the next day. After all, each day is another opportunity to be a better YOU.

— Written by Jaclyn Lutanco-Chua of MindNation

Here are some psychological strategies to help you stick to your goals.

The holidays are officially over and it’s time to spend today doing what most of us often do on the very first weekend of the year — making our New Year’s resolutions.

But writing goals is one thing; making sure you are able to keep them throughout the year is another matter. Studies have shown that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fizzle out by mid-February, with the reasons ranging from loss of motivation to lack of social support. If you want to belong to the 20% who are able to successfully turn their resolutions into a lifelong habit, below are some things you can try:

Rephrase your resolutions. In a study published last December 9 in the American scientific journal PLOS ONE, scientists discovered that those who phrased their resolutions as an “approach goal,” or where they tried to adopt a new habit or introduce something new to their lives, were the ones that had the highest rate of success. On other hand, resolutions about avoiding or quitting something, or “avoidance goals,” proved to be less successful. This is because it’s easier to introduce a new behavior than to erase a bad habit.

So for example, if your goal is to stop eating sweets in order to lose weight, you will most likely be more successful if you say ‘I will eat fruit several times a day’ instead. You then replace sweets with something healthier, which probably means you will lose weight and also keep your resolution,” says Professor Per Carlbring at the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, one of the collaborators of the above study.

Tell someone about it. Don’t keep your resolution a secret. Tell friends and family members so that they will support your goals and remind you when you start to forget about them. An even better thing to do would be to find a friend who has the same New Year’s resolution as you so that you can motivate each other.

Set SMART goals. The SMART acronym was first coined by corporate consultant George T. Doran in 1981 and has since become the benchmark for making an effective goal, whether professional or personal. For your resolution to stick, it has to be:

Specific. When you have a concrete idea of what you want to accomplish, you become more motivated. “I will eat healthier” is admirable but vague; “I will eat more fruits and vegetables every meal” is more defined and gives you a blueprint to follow.

Measurable. When you can track your progress (see #4), you will feel more confident to carry on or make tweaks when needed.

Achievable. Don’t resolve to “Climb Mt. Everest by the end of the year” if you have a sedentary lifestyle. Amending your resolution to “Go hiking with friends every month” is more realistic.

Relevant. Your goals need to be significant to you, and suitable to your existing skills and resources, otherwise it can easily be discarded. For example, if you feel you have been doing a good job at work, aiming for a promotion is a logical and relevant next step. On the other hand, aiming to learn skills that are better suited in another department, while admirable, is not an efficient way to make use of your strengths.

Time-bound. This helps you track your progress. “I want to be able to do 10 full-body push-ups in two months” gives you something to work towards than if you just leave it as “I want to be able to do 10 full-body push-ups, period.”

Aim for progress not perfection. Celebrate every step in the right direction, no matter how small. Being able to do two push-ups out of 10 is better than zero; “small wins” can also reinforce the belief that you have the ability to change, and that your goals are within your reach.

Learn and adapt. Encountering a setback is one of the most common reasons why people give up on their New Year’s resolutions. So if you suddenly relapse into a bad habit, don’t view it as a failure; instead, use it as a learning opportunity. One way to keep track is to maintain a resolution journal, where you can write down important information about when the relapse occurred, what might have triggered it, and what you might do differently next time. By understanding the challenges you face, you will be better prepared to deal with them in the future.

Be patient. Change is a process. Those unhealthy or undesired habits that you are trying to change probably took years to develop, so don’t expect to change them in just a matter of days, weeks, or months.

It may take longer than you would like to achieve your goals, but remember that working toward your resolution is a marathon, not a sprint to the finish line. Once you have made the commitment to changing a behavior, it may be something that you have to continue to work on for the rest of your life.

If in the process you feel you are losing motivation, become overwhelmed by self-doubt, or need to ease your anxieties, you can always reach out to MindNation psychologists or WellBeing Coaches for teletherapy sessions. Book a session thru bit.ly/mn-chat.

— Written by Jaclyn Lutanco-Chua of MindNation