‘I’m a behavioural expert – 1 trick will help your New Year’s resolutions stick’

A behavioural change expert says Brits should ‘soft-launch’ their New Year’s resolutions earlier, such as in November or December, to have the best chance of succeeding in January. Professor Benjamin Gardner, a chartered psychologist and expert in habits and behaviour change, says making small lifestyle changes ahead of time will build your confidence and give you time to ‘test the water’ on new habits before doing it ‘for real’ in the New Year.

It suggested it will also help prevent the ‘all-or-nothing mentality’ that often leads to frustration and failure when perfection isn’t achieved right away. This means you are more likely to stick to it than if you try to make drastic and overly challenging changes on January 1st. 

It comes as new research from global healthcare company, Novo Nordisk, revealed 43% of adults will deviate from their New Year’s goals within a month. Key reasons for this included a lack of motivation (41%), life getting in the way (39%), and their goal being too difficult to maintain (25%).

This can often result in people feeling like a failure and disappointed in themselves. 

Professor Gardner said: “Many people wake up on New Year’s Day not ready to embrace change. The key is all about readiness, so anything you can do before the change of the calendar year can help habits stand the test of time.”

And it appears the majority of people agree as the poll of 2,000 adults revealed 53% said soft-launching resolutions as early as November could help people stick to them.

Over a quarter said ‘soft launching’ their resolution made January less of a struggle – and 20% did so because they wanted to feel good before Christmas.

Feeling sluggish after the festive period can also make it difficult to keep to resolutions as people can often feel pressured to undo the effects of the holidays all in one go. 

In addition, Professor Gardner warns the circumstances of the New Year celebrations are often not very conducive to changing behaviours. 

“It’s cold and miserable, the weather isn’t great, and you’re not really energised to make the best changes,” he said. “There can be a lot of pressure to make the changes because other people are, but sometimes it has the opposite effect.

“As a result of everyone else doing it, you may end up committing to something you don’t really want to do, which is why soft-launching a resolution is a good idea as it gives you a chance to test the waters.”

In fact, Professor Gardner says the best way to ‘fresh start’ is to not wait and start today.

5 BENEFITS OF SOFT-LAUNCHING NEW HABITS AHEAD OF JANUARY:

1. Trial and error

Sometimes the changes we want to make are not realistic, or do not bring about the positive outcomes we were expecting (or bring about negative outcomes that we weren’t expecting). By trying out some small changes first, it helps us to make more informed decisions in the new year.

2. Avoid the pressure

Soft launching in November or December helps us try out ideas without feeling under pressure from other people. We may be unable to make changes in January because we experience lots of social pressure to make such changes – and when we already feel the change we’re aiming for is challenging, the extra pressure can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and leads us to cave in and give up.

3.  Small steps to success

Starting small helps people to build up to bigger changes – it can also help build momentum, through positive experiences of making achievable small changes.

One of the keys to a successful behaviour change attempt is feeling confident and positive. When we feel a behaviour change attempt is failing, it can make us feel bad about ourselves, lose confidence, and feel like change is not worth it.

4. Hitting form

By soft launching before January, we can go into January with a history of success behind us, rather than starting afresh with no idea of how successful we’ll be.

5. Mental clarity

For many people, there is often more mental space available to them over the pre-Christmas wind-down period, as work stresses start to die down. Having more mental capacity can help encourage people to focus on themselves and what is important – and realistic – for them to change. When people head back to work at the start of a new year, this can be stressful and mentally depleting (especially given the abrupt adjustment from the festive period!).