Psychologist on New Year’s resolutions: it’s getting out of your comfort zone

Making a lasting change in life means getting out of your comfort zone. You need not only desire, but also self-discipline and perseverance. Dr. Ewa Jarczewska-Gerc, a psychologist at SWPS University, talks about how to keep New Year’s resolutions.

SWPS University psychologist Dr. Ewa Jarczewska-Gerc points out that most often, if we make resolutions for ourselves – such as. New Year’s Day – we would like to change our lives, but without incurring the cost of aów and the effort involved in the process. – Meanwhile, the road to success is difficult to navigate and requires getting out of one’s comfort zone, a psychologist points out in a text on the university’s website.

As he mentions, the motivation process consists of four stagesóIn: starting, directing, sustaining (where a detailedólna attentiveness) and the termination of activities.

First, a realistic plan is needed. – If we tell ourselves specifically where, when and in what form we are going to carry out our resolution, our chances of success increase, a psychologist believes. So instead of – very ogólnie – resolve to ourselves, for example. that „I will practice”, „I will slim down”, „I’m going to eat healthy", It is better, according to the researcher, to plan ourselves in more detailóHEADQUARTERS. Jarczewska-Gerc is of the opinion that intentions should be defined in the form of implications, that is, in the form of sentences "If a situation happens >x< then I will do >y<" e.g. "as soon as wrócę home, then I go out to the gym" or „When I wake up, I will prepare a healthy breakfast”.

The difficult part of keeping resolutions is fighting our own excusesówek. The psychologist notes that any abandonment of the plan (e.g. when we reach for sweets, although we decided not to eat them) – although temporarily it can and will put us in a good moodój, this after some time leads to a lower mood and can affect the decline of our self-esteem. – However, once we motivate ourselves to action, overcoming the temporary feeling of discomfort, we begin to be proud of ourselves. Our struggle with weaknesses is priceless, as it guarantees the constitution of a high, stable self-esteem,” explains Jarczewska-Gerc.

The researcher reports that it takes about three months to form a habit. But also the time afterwards is very important. It was then that a lot of osób abandons his resolutions, assuming that after such a period of time one can already let go a bit. – In addition, the forces are dissipating, whichóre originally motivated us to undertake the change. Therefore, at this point one should be extremely vigilant,” the psychologist believes.

He advises not to focus on the goal itself, but on the individual goalsólnych steps we need to take to achieve this goal. – Let’s not focus on the positive result itself, because it usually distracts us from action – we have wót that time the feeling that success is almost there,” she notes. And acknowledges that in order to achieve a goal and persevere in it, we need to make an effort. – Simulations of the process make it easier for us to make the effort, he comments.

Jarczewska-Gerc stresses that – in order to persevere in the resolution – it is not worth imagining that we have already achieved this goal. – What can help usóc, is to focus on the path – the process of reaching the goal. Imagining the next stepóin action – mówi psychologist and points out how important it is that in the process there will be a spójny plan for the implementation of activities (along with contingency plans should something go wrong).