Be in the 8% who follow-through with their New Year’s resolution…

Got a New Year’s resolution? Harvard Medical School suggests a seven point plan.

Do you want to study more, lose weight (again), get fit, give up a bad habit or develop a good one? Work on a nudge in the right direction regularly and often and not a cataclysmic change for a sustained difference.

These are my 5:

1 Be ambitious – it’s inspirational

2 Chunk it – breaking a big task into small, achievable parts is motivational

3 Commit – use an app, make a public promise, tell a supportive friend

4 Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good

5 Know the loopholes! Habit and happiness researcher Gretchen Rubin lists them on on her website. From the “false choice loophole” (I can’t do this because I am too busy doing that”), to “Tomorrow” (when you will do it) to “This doesn’t count” (I’m on holiday, I’m sick, It’s the weekend) to my favourite “One-coin loophole” which is the essence of successfully changing a habit.

The one-coin loophole turned on it’s head is precisely how to get fit, give up “x”, be more considerate and kind, be less impatient or adhere to a study program. Every little bit counts in the argument of the growing heap:

“If ten coins are not enough to make a man rich, what if you add one coin? What if you add another? Finally, you will have to say that no one can be rich unless one coin can make him so.”

…any one little thing that we do is a little thing, but the sum of all our actions will change our behaviour. If that’s what you want.

So: think big, act small, be accountable, know the barriers to your success, do it today and start now.

Happy New Year.