I always feel energized by the arrival of a new year. It’s like a clean slate, twelve sprawling months ahead for reaching my dreams. Do you feel that way, too?
If so, maybe I can help by sharing my own plans and a great book recommendation. My goals are to lose weight and become a best-selling author in 2014, which is the year I turn sixty.
Hey, a girl can dream.
Re: the weight loss, I’m a recidivist Lifetime member of Weight Watchers. I like the program because they taught me how to eat during the craziness of menopause. But I’m not plugging them – any program you stick to will work. So, how do you do that?
To prepare myself, I picked up a great book, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. In it, I learned:
- Habit is more powerful than addiction
- Your brain resorts to habit because it conserves energy, which is then freed up for survival
- Scientists now agree on proven strategies for developing new habits or changing old ones.
To change an old habit, Duhigg reports, you learn to recognize the cue that triggers the routine that leads to the reward. Then you leave the cue and reward alone, and change the routine. In other words, you don’t try to rewire your brain not to want what it wants – you just go about getting to the reward a different way.
This intrigues me. To test the theory (so you don’t have to), I’m going to work on one of my worst habits: I crave a glass of wine around 3 p.m., which usually leads to a cascade of consequences like eating too much for dinner, etc. That’s an old habit I need to change.
On the other hand, creating a new habit, Duhigg says, requires a slightly different approach. You create a cue and reward (which must be cultivated into a craving). Then the routine connecting the cue and reward is the desired practice, like exercise or meditation. In other words, in order to create a new habit of meditating, I’ll have to invent a cue and reward that make me want to repeat the routine.
I know this is vague but why load you up with details before I test drive the theories? But if they work, how cool if you could develop a foolproof strategy for making yourself into the person you’ve always wanted to be? The future would be unlimited!
So here’s my plan: I’m going to get started, and right around the first of January, I’ll report back to you about my degree of initial success, so you can decide whether Duhigg’s methods hold promise for you.
As for the best-selling author plan, I’ll be working on some strategies (like better time management, and daily meditation to enhance my creativity). One thing I’m not very good at is asking for help, so here goes:
If you read Dakota Blues, and liked it, would you mind telling a friend? And if you haven’t yet tried it, I’m getting really good reviews on Amazon, so you might want to check it out. People say it’s empowering, inspiring, and joyful. Also, it contains tips, strategies and wisdom, delivered in story form, for living your best life after fifty. Here’s the link, and I hope you love it.
What are you planning for 2014? Why don’t you share your aspirations in the comments below?
I always look forward to your posts and this one was great, especially the recommendation for the book, The Power of Habit. I bought this for my kindle and am racing through it. Traveling long term has helped me reinvent myself in many ways and form new habits (mostly good!) and I look forward to using some of the strategies in this book. I love the fact that your book, Dakota Blues is also about changing one’s direction in life and reinventing yourself. Anita
Anita, I’m glad you’re enjoying POH. I have so many sticky notes, dog-eared pages and underlines it’s crazy! I think I’ll have to do a serious review of it.
I continue to enjoy your posts Lynne. And, I did love your book. The New Year is always a hopeful time for me as I have renewed energy for my goals. I like to state an Intention for the new year and what helps me to do this is to “harvest” the old year.
I like that – harvest the old. I take that to mean we could look at what we did, what we can rejoice in having harvested as a result of our efforts. What we learned, and how we have grown as a result. Thanks, Create.
That’s right Lynne. It is the work of Sage-ing (positive conscious age-ing). Every year on New Years Eve I reflect back on the year with some focused questions about the year.
Oh Lynne, cues, reward, routine…be damned. You could write your own motivational book. I have no doubt that you can achieve whatever you set your mind to do. Therefore, I can’t wait to read your next book. To anyone seeing my comment, hear this… Dakota Blues is a great, inspirational read! Pick up your copy ASAP.
Pat, I know you live in Switzerland, but soon you will be able to cast your gaze to the west and see the shape of my head expanding above the horizon. From California.
My dream is to write and self-publish a book that sells 2000 copies in 2014, and to start or adapt current blog to one that charges a nominal feel for content with 1000 followers
To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
Bob, I’m rooting for you! And now that you have the goals all you have to do is set up the plan and work it. You probably already have. (I constantly torture myself with: failing to plan is planning to fail.)
It is a disciplined endeavor. If I fail, I will blame it on reading your newest best seller.
Love your blog, Lynne. Always an inspiration.
What are my plans for 2014? Oddly enough, a painful catfishing experience (search the new meaning of catfished online) gave me the idea for two short stories and a new novel. Interesting how a bad experience can lead to surprising opportunities. Good material is every writer’s dream. Thanks to an internet scammer, my work is cut out for me in 2014. Talk about a silver lining. Serendipity.
In the meantime, after 4 years of work and countless revisions, my agent promises that my new novel, In The Time of Apricots is first on her list for January submissions to NY publishers. Fingers and toes crossed.
Mine, too. And whenever somebody is mean or disrespectful to me in public, or just bums me out for some reason, I smile and think, “Material.” So best wishes with the catfishing thing, Sis.
Seventy-one-years old and retired, in 2014 I plan to live life to its fullest. Focusing on creating an uncluttered environment devoid of negativity. Striving for happiness, peace, love and tranquility. While this may be impossible, just trying will improve the quality of my life. Thank u for sharing.
Sistah, that sounds just great. First, “live life to its fullest” – how can anybody aim higher? And your 2nd to last sentence is wise, because if we at least try, we’ve got to be better off than if we hadn’t. Let us know how it goes, and thanks for stopping by.
Best of luck with your 2014 goals, Lynne! In many ways they mirror my own. BTW I recently did my part to get the word about about Dakota Blues on my blog. Here’s the link ‘case you missed it. http://lindahoye.com/introductions/
I had not seen that, Linda, thank you so much!
I turn sixty in 2014 and am going to become a best-selling author as well. We are soul sisters. Hmm. I had better get started on that book.
As for the other goal; what i have found works is to aim for a transformation in my thoughts rather than a transition in my weight. The transition is ‘I want to lose weight so I will go on a “diet” and stop having a drink at 3 pm’. The ‘diet’ stops as soon as friends drop by and I succumb to that first drink at 3 pm. ‘Oh dear, out goes the diet and the weight loss plan.’ Transformation is: ‘I want to be healthy and active enough to attend my great-grand-children’s graduations’. Think “family”, plan for “health”. So that one drink fits into that plan, (repeated ones do not), as does an exercise regime (that can occasionally be broken without self-condemnation) and mindfulness.
Oh, by the way, it is the lattes which I have mainly given up (yet do occasionally allow myself to indulge) and I have swapped to skim-milk.
Elizabeth, I once heard that people are only motivated by rewards, not fear. This is why we keep doing things that may go so far as to endanger our health or lives, like smoking or drinking to excess, or not exercising. Fear of death is like, big deal. So your idea resonates.
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for sharing the power of habit, with cues and rewards. Having worked in a facility in LA that deals with issues of unhealthy habits, something as simple as going into your home from another door can shift you thinking process to change a habit. So it doesn’t have to be a gigantic shift to change behavior!! Good Luck – I am joining you on your weight loss journey of change!!
Breaking old habits and replacing by new… should be interesting. I have a couple I’d like to break. Will stay tuned to learn about your process and progress. 😛
Interesting. This makes sense to me because it explains the “why” of behaviors. I am thinking that next year will be a year of positive change for me, so learning to do things from a new perspective might be the key to my success.
Thanks for the info. Look forward to reading about how you and your 3 p.m. glass of wine get along while implementing these ideas.
Ally, that’s gonna be hard. I already kind of wish I hadn’t said anything about that particular habit because now I’ll REALLY have to work on it. 😉
There is nothing you can’t do Lynne (within the realm of practicality and reason) – I just sense that about you. This is my 60th year too, and I like the idea of setting some impressive goals for this year. As for your book- I’ve told more people about it than Doan’s has back pills – but perhaps I should add a reminder or check-in to see what they thought.
Hey, Mimi, happy birthday early then! And thanks for my early present (sharing the Dakota Blues story). Very kind of you!