January has come to an end, and so do many peoples New Year’s resolutions. 92% to be exact; drop there resolution by mid-January. Some people don’t even make a resolution because after years and years of failure, they just don’t want to feel the feeling of failure anymore.  Self-improvement for most has become a hobby. Something they visit from time to time. When the clock strikes 12 on that first day of the year, their ambitious also strike a yearly high. They begin to plan goals; lost weight, get a promotion, no sweets, the list goes on. All of which have good intentions, and as great as it is to shoot for the moon, you may be shooting yourself in the foot. Psychologists Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi has found that there is a state of mind that people are addicted to. “It is a state of total immersion in a task that is challenging yet closely matched to one’s abilities.”  People usually call it “being in the zone.” Csikszentmihalyi calls it “Flow”.

So why do people quit? It is because their goal is out of “flow”. Most of the time people’s goals are slightly out of reach. When people come up short they become discouraged and their enthusiasm begins to fade. This downward spiral begins to discourage the soul and makes goals unimportant. A social psychologist at FSU named it “ego depletion.” This is when you have used up all willpower/mental energy and self-control. The “ego has taken too many hits” aka defeats. It needs to WIN/celebrate/feel important and above all progress. With a slight tweak in strategy we can reverse the epidemic of losing sight of goals to move towards becoming more motivated and enthusiastic.

You have to keep it somewhat simple. Make sure there is a clear challenge that fully engages you but at the same time you have the skills to meet the challenge and get immediate feedback. This will ensure that you will get wave after wave of positive feelings with each smaller, attainable victory.  With every small victory you will be more and more excited to complete the next goal. The goal here is to please the animalistic part of us that releases the brains pleasure hormone Dopamine, after doing something that advances our evolutionary instincts.

    This begins to train your brain and changes its chemistry.  You being to form positive, life-enhancing habits, and long-lasting willpower. Be willing to embrace a total lifestyle change. Open yourself up to it, don’t shy away from it. Change is GOOD! Your comfort zone begins to widen and bigger goals start to feel more attainable.  You have to understand that BIG, long lasting change will not happen overnight, but smaller challenging victories will keep you engaged and motivated forever!