One Step at a Time Can Get You Where You Want to Be

A recent poll found that, as the New Year approached, 66 percent of people polled were making or considering making New Year’s resolutions. And the top three resolutions were all health-related―to lose weight, to get fit, and to eat healthier food. These are all wonderful goals, but they’re even better if they’re actually achieved. The cold, hard truth, however, is that only eight percent of those who make resolutions of any kind actually keep them. That’s a failure rate of 92 percent! There’s a term used in clinical psychology for repeated failure to improve oneself: “false hope syndrome.” It’s particularly common for those who hope―and repeatedly fail―to lose weight. If you have a big goal like getting healthy, you might try breaking it down into smaller, more achievable pieces and resolve to take one step at a time, aiming for small changes that put you on the path toward your larger goal. Read more…