Christmas is now behind us and 2024 is coming up fast and with a new year, comes new resolutions. We all have our best intentions but what can we do to really make them stick this year?
Licensed independent clinical social worker Nick Norman joined us Tuesday in the KIRO 7 Live Studio to talk about setting an achievable resolution.
“The mistake we often make is we try to take on too much too quickly,” Norman said.
He said taking on too much can become unsustainable and then we lose momentum toward our goal.
“What we really wanna find is something simple and sustainable,” he said. “Because the key to long-lasting change isn’t intensity its consistency. So we’re trying to build a habit here, something we can continually do day by day.”
A common resolution is to lose weight.
But where do you start?
“We have to start at habit, you know looking at our habits maybe from the last year 2023, and what were the habits that contributed to my weight gain for example,” Norman said. “Was I moving enough? What kind of food was I eating? And then begin to identify small things we can change.”
Norman said to start small like going on a 20-minute walk every day and then when that becomes consistent, you can add something else.
Another important thing to look at is motivation.
“Sometimes we genuinely wanna make that change for ourselves and sometimes we feel maybe societal pressure,” Norman said. “And if we aren’t motivated from a really intrinsic personal space, we’re gonna have a really tough time sustaining that change.”
When it comes to supporting others to quit bad habits or make changes, Norman said compassion is key.
“Because with any bad habit we’re trying to kick we’re probably gonna slip up along the way,” he said. “And so if we can have compassion for that person then maybe they can have some compassion for themselves as well.”
Norman said when it comes to bad habits, we often have to replace them with something healthier to form a new, good habit.
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