By now, you may be doing your written New Year’s resolutions. But how did you write them in order to succeed?
Lyqa Maravilla, a registered psychometrician, motivational speaker, educreator, and author, suggests ways on how to write or restructure New Year’s resolutions in the latest episode of her motivational podcast Trying Hard on Spotify.
In the less than half an hour podcast, Lyqa talked about the five Ps for an effective resolution. She mentioned that if you have already written your resolution let those words go through these five requirements, and maybe you can tweak or edit afterwards. But, if you’re just about to write them, you can keep in mind these five Ps she discussed.
Personal
You have to make your resolution personal, something you really decided to do and not just force upon you. If you want to quit smoking, make sure you want it and not because your loved ones asked you to. So commit to something that is true to you.
Practical or Possible
Resolution has to be practical or possible for you in your specific situation. Make a resolution that is not too hard to do and could make you feel guilty in the process which often causes resolution to fail.
Positive
It is more effective if resolutions are positively worded. It should be action oriented and not a not-to-do list so you could have a positive motivation to fulfill your plans. You may write, “I will exercise for 30 minutes each day,” instead of writing, “I will lose weight.”
Precise
Your resolution should have specifics or number figures so you can have a way to measure if you’re succeeding. For example in saving money, put a number value. Better say “I will save P5000 every month” rather than just saying “I will save every month.”
Peer check
In doing the resolutions, it’s better to have someone, could be family or friends, who will remind you of your promises every time you fail. If you do it alone you either become too casual or too punishing to yourself.
“When it comes to New Year’s resolution, we are bound to fail two times or more. But, it’s never too late to start,” Lyqa advised. "The idea of this entire podcast is that we are all trying our hardest. At the times that we fail, that’s ok…you just dust yourself off, stand up straight and tall and keep walking.”