Successful Change in 2024
After the fireworks go off on New Years Eve, will you ring in the new year with resolutions?
Greetings, hope everyone is enjoying this special week that falls between Christmas and New Year’s celebrations…
Many are off and enjoying lounging around and/or spending time reengaging with visiting family members. Many of us are working this week due to occupational schedules (kids are off from school and college students are home) and it’s a great time for medical and dental appointments. Whichever bracket you fall in, you usually have some extra time this week for self-reflection.
And somewhere in your self-reflection period this week, admit it, you were thinking of making a New Year’s resolution.
Every year, for the past 35 years, my wife and I host an amalgamation of both her family and mine, in the neighborhood of 25-35 people. And every year, at least 8 to 10 individuals… usually after a few beverages… will begin a conversation on how amazing their New Year’s resolution is going to be. I will not insult my readership’s intelligence by repeating the actual verbiage from these individuals, because I would venture to guess that at least 70-80% of you have these same discussions at your New Year’s celebrations.
Heck, I’ll go so far as to say many of you may have had the discussion with only yourself on how great something is going to be by May with your newly made resolution.
I usually have it with myself this time of year, while hiking in Nature and sitting on a bluff overlooking God’s creation with my Labrador retriever. My pup makes a great listener… she loves me dearly and believes most of what I tell her. While hiking with her, I get so rejuvenated with the sights, sounds, and smells of Nature that my resolutions sound so achievable and realistic. Yet once back home, in the concrete jungle, my track record hasn’t been so stellar.
Believe it or not, staying focused and genuinely engaged in completing a life-changing goal is not as easy as most of us think (according to high power research on this topic of human endeavors)…
Forbes magazine surveyed 1,000 adults in their Forbes Health/One Poll Survey in November this year and published their findings two weeks ago. The average resolution lasts 3.74 months — 8% of people last one month… 22% last two months… 13% last four months, and an abysmal 6% actually complete their resolution and achieve the set goal!
As resolutions go, the highest category was to “improve personal fitness” at 48%, followed by “improve financial status” at 38%, and those who just made resolutions to change their life — be it a spouse, job, etc. — made up the remaining 14%.
Adding more fuel to the failure-of-resolution fire was Professor Richard Batts, Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, who published in February of this year his human resolution success survey results. Prof. Batts found 23% quit in the first week… 43% quit by the end of January… and a less abysmal 9% successfully completed their resolution!
Both surveys came up with similar reasons why people don’t stay with their resolutions. (Interestingly, over ten years ago, Invisalign® dealt with the same issues, finding that many patients didn’t finish their treatment.)
Let’s look at the top four things we should consider in seeing our resolutions through to completion…
1) The goal of the resolution must make sense to you and must be set when a change is actually needed or truly desired.
The worst reason for a resolution is because it is tradition. You don’t need a dropping shiny ball or cloud of confetti to make a resolution… but you do need commitment! Whether it’s losing weight, building up the 401K, or creating a beautiful smile, your desire to make a change must make sense to you and no one else.
2) No path to victory is ever completely smooth or in a straight line. One must expect obstacles and barriers along the way.
Being able to predict them ahead of time is one of the keys to success with resolutions. Predicting obstacles involves doing one’s homework on the goal in mind and coming up with contingent plans in case an obstacle is encountered. Successfully dealing with an obstacle will give one added enthusiasm for continued success. Getting blindsided by an obstacle will determine your grit and commitment to the goal.
3) Keep resolutions reasonable and measurable in order to ensure success.
Yes, grandiose resolutions sound great, but unless they can be broken down into smaller measurable portions, the odds of continued interest and eventual completion are small. Celebrating the conquering of each small step of a larger life-changing goal is positive reinforcement that stimulates the mind and drives the soul to persevere.
4) Last, you must be held accountable for your progress.
If you don’t trust yourself to stay on track, find a like-minded individual or join a group involved in similar goals. They say exercising with a buddy triples the chance for fitness goals to be achieved. Hire a coach and the chances of success are quadrupled. Writing down on a chart, diary, or using any of a number of modern techno tools to track your progress will give periodic boosts to your self-esteem and provide incentives to successfully complete your goal.
So there you have it, the not-so-secret script for enhancing your success with this year’s resolutions!
I have been creating smiles for several decades… and achieving cooperation with rubber bands, headgear, and retainer wear has always been a daunting challenge to keep my patient population focused on success. It wasn’t until Invisalign began researching new psychological techniques for motivating and focusing patients (including the four discussed above) that we began to truly engage patients in creating their new smiles.
As Invisalign puts it, your doctors may be great at moving teeth, but moving adolescents and adults to wearing aligners hasn’t always been our strong suit. It’s not nuclear science, with today’s hectic lifestyles, that our focus is drawn in many directions, especially if you are a parent! Focusing on ourselves, such as completing personal projects or New Year’s resolutions, many times gets sidetracked and lost in the land of confusion that we sometimes call life.
New Year’s wishes from the team at Pfister Orthodontics! (Pictured: Staff Christmas Party, 2023)
Hopefully, this blog will give you the basic outline to write a script on how to successfully complete a personal goal that you have always had on your bucket list.
Why not in 2024?
Talk to that amazingly talented person in the mirror and take that first step to a new you!
On behalf of my Family and Staff, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a meaningful and stimulating New Year.
I truly enjoy working with you and can’t wait to see what we cook up for discussion in 2024!
God Bless,
Dr. Pfister