January 5, 2009

Making your work/life balance resolutions for 2009 last

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"Research shows that about 80 percent of people who make resolutions on Jan. 1 fall off the wagon by Valentine's Day, according to Marti Hope Gonzales, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota."

When I read this sentence in the New York Times article "New Year, New You? Nice Try," my heart sank a little.

With odds like that, how can those of us who've vowed to work less, sleep more, avoid the candy machine, leave the office a bit earlier to hit the gym, eat dinner as a family more than one night a week, scale back our email/Facebook/BlackBerry use, or start networking at real, live, face-to-face professional events ever hope to succeed in our new year's resolutions?

Fortunately, the article goes on to list several strategies that can help, none of which include entrusting our ability to change to willpower. (Apparently, we're always going to want that donut; we just have to want to fit into our clothes again more.)

According to the New York Times, these tactics include:

Nixing the baby steps. Grand, sweeping lifestyle modifications are where it's at. As the thinking goes, the bigger the change, the quicker you'll see the results. If you want to stop hacking every morning, you don't resolve to cut down on your smoking. You see your doctor, you get the patch, and you flush your last pack of cigarettes down the toilet.

Faking it till you make it. Maybe you're still the same stress bunny you were two weeks ago, back when it was 2008, but keep telling yourself you're a Zen master anyway. In time, the story you're feeding yourself will come to match the inner calm you feel.

Not worrying about "being ready" to change. You may never be fully ready. Besides, the best way to convince yourself that you're ready for a change is to see that the world won't slip off its axis by the mere act of you shutting down your computer and leaving work at a reasonable hour.

Since we're already five days into the new year and I am still (a) at the computer at 11 p.m., (b) sleeping less than eight hours a night, and (c) eating cookies like nobody's business, I can't attest to whether any of these strategies work. 

But maybe some of you can: Tell us, how have you resolved to live a more balanced life in years past and what tricks did you employ to make your resolutions stick?

Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail Michelle at mgoodman@nwjobs.com

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1 Comments

Claire on January 16, 2009 5:43 AM | Reply

Yes, it's going to be a rough ride for a while...but there are some great free ways you can get an edge. One is to build a professional identity online - one free service is http://www.nuresume.com which lets you post what position you are looking for as well as get alerts for matching internships and jobs. Good luck!

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