Facing 2020 / Keeping new year resolutions

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

The Philippines faces 2020 with great hope according to a Social Weather Stations survey basing from 96 percent of people polled in the fourth-quarter.

The SWS said this record high in a year-end survey was first achieved in 2017 at the end of the first full year of the new Duterte administra­tion.

It went down to 92 percent in 2018, the year inflation – high prices — soared to 6.7 percent in September. The nationwide survey on people’s hopes is now back to 96 percent, an affirmation, the SWS said, of the people’s view of life in the Philippines today.

Despite these, there is much that is happening in the world that may make Filipinos fortunate to be living in this country. The news is full of endless street fighting in many countries over a variety of issues.

In Hong Kong, the street rallies protesting a proposed extradition law have continued as a pro-democracy move­ment.

The causes have been different in countries. Some are over economic issues, others po­litical. But all demonstrators, according to observers, have the sense that they are not in control of their government or their officials.

Filipinos too were driven by this sense of being left out when they gathered by the millions at EDSA in 1986 in support of then Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos and Executive Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile.

After days of mass demonstration, then President Marcos yielded to the widowed housewife who ran against him in a special elec­tion – Cory Aquino.

The same sense of discontent must be driving people of so many countries to take to the streets in protest demonstrations today.

Observers point out the country shares many of the problems in these na­tions – poverty for so many people, so many still without decent work, corruption in some government agencies, inadequate government services.

Filipinos have not taken to the streets yet as in other countries. They may want to ride out another year despite many problems and strife the nation is facing.

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 (I would like to share this article by Eric Jensen on how to keep new year resolutions this 2020):

Experts Amy Morin, psychotherapist and USA TODAY best-selling author of "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," and Hal Hershfield, associate professor of marketing and behavioral decision making at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, agree success begins with a specific goal. Staying motivated can also be a challenge. 

Here's how to stick to your New Year's resolutions: 

Craft an appropriate, measurable goal

Instead of setting an objective of losing weight, prepare to be more specific. Set weekly goals to lose a set number of pounds or go to the gym a certain number of times, suggests Morin. 

Hershfield mentions setting both a low-end and high-end goal, like wanting to lose 12-18 pounds or running 2-6 miles per week. "If you set that sort of range, that can cause you to reach the easier goal but then keep striving for the harder one," he explains.

Join a gym and New Year's Day does not need to be ground zero. It's better to hold off to allow time to adequately prepare, according to Morin. That includes contemplating any pitfalls, like a lack of motivation and temptations. 

"A lot of people set health and fitness goals, but then they forget (about) 'What am I gonna do when my friends invite me out to dinner, or when everybody from the office is going out to drinks, or when my kids have after school activities, can I still go to the gym?' And just a little planning and preparation for that," says Morin. 

Make a habit of your resolution

Hershfield stresses the importance of making your resolution "automatic."

"Try to relieve the pain points as much as possible," he says. If your resolution is going to the gym, decide on a time – the same time every day – and lay out gym clothes and anything else needed in advance. "The more and more routine you make it, the more that will naturally become a habit over time," he says, "coupled with making it less painful." 

Maintain motivation

Speaking of making new habits less painful, Hershfield speaks of Katy Milkman's work on temptation bundling, which he describes as "this idea that you essentially pair whatever it is that you’re experiencing some pain on and pair that with something that’s pleasurable."

Morin warns feelings of fatigue and anxiety can zap motivation. To combat that, she advises listing your reasons for adhering to your resolution while still feeling inspired, to be read on days when motivation is lacking. "All those logical reasons of why you should do it can help counteract the emotional aspect of your decision that will try to talk you out of it," she says.

Move on after slip-ups

Appropriately assess a backslide for what it is and what it is not – a flame-thrower to any and all improvement. "Remember that you’ve made progress, and sometimes progress is two steps forward and one step back," advises Morin. "Know that every time you slip up is an opportunity to grow stronger and get better, and you just have to learn from it."

Morin also advises being aware of how you talk to yourself. "The tendency to beat yourself up, or to be overly harsh on yourself, is gonna make things worse," she says. "We know that self-compassion is the key to changing your behavior, but most of us are so much harder on ourselves than we are on anybody else." 

Hershfield suggests leaving room for mishaps using "emergency reserves," which acts as a buffer if goals aren't met. "The idea here is that it allows us some sort of soft cushion to fall so that we can bounce back and keep going with our goal rather than the psychological perception that we’ve just completely fallen off the goal pursuit path," he says.