Staff report
The new year is a time to reflect on the past 12 months as well as look ahead and set goals.
According to a YouGov poll, the most common resolutions for the coming year in the United States are to eat healthier, exercise more and to save more money. Nearly 1/3 said that they wouldn’t bother with any resolutions.
For some, if you mention the idea of a New Year’s resolution it elicits groans and maybe a few eye rolls because of past failures. Some of the biggest mistakes made when setting a resolution are having too many or making them too broad.
According to a CBS News report, “Making a resolution to lose weight, for example, is too general a notion that does not give you something specific to work towards or a well-defined path to follow. Similarly, if you want to be more physically fit, but have barely gotten off the couch in two years, planning to run a marathon isn’t going to be feasible.”
Here are tips to make your resolution a success: be honest with yourself; choose one goal that is SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based); chart your progress, and hold yourself accountable.
To inspire you, we asked readers to share what they’d like to accomplish in 2019.
• Learn all the moves to the flight attendant
announcement so I can take over at any point in time!
• Worry less, smile more!
• Go to bed earlier and get more sleep.
• Pay off my debt.
• Meet new people.
• Stop smoking.
To quit smoking — a common resolution — the American Lung Association has these words of encouragement.
• It’s never too late to quit. While it’s best to quit smoking as early as possible, quitting smoking at any age will enhance the length and quality of your life. You’ll also save money and avoid the hassle of smoking outside in the cold. You can even inspire those around you to quit smoking.
• Learn from past experiences. More than half of all smokers in Washington have tried to quit before, and sometimes people get discouraged thinking about previous attempts. Instead, treat those experiences as steps on the road to future success. Think about what helped you during those tries and what you’ll do differently in your next quit attempt.
• You don’t have to quit alone. The first seven to 10 days of a quit attempt are the toughest, and telling friends and family that you’re trying to quit and enlisting their support will help ease the process. Friends who also smoke may even join you in trying to quit.
• Talk to a doctor about smoking medications. Talking to a doctor can double your chances of quitting successfully. There are seven FDA-approved smoking medications that can help you quit.
• Every smoker can quit. Find the right combination of techniques for you, and above all, keep trying. Slip-ups – having a puff, or smoking one or two cigarettes – are common but don’t mean that a quitter has failed. The important thing is to keep trying to quit.
