First things first. We wish you a very happy – and healthy (!) – New Year, may 2026 be a great year for you!!!
So, another shiny New Year beckons. The million dollar question is what are you going to do with it? What plans do you have? Big and, just as important, small. And, if you’re wondering why small is just as important, there’s a very simple answer. Not only are small things less scary and so easier to do – as well as fitting more easily into your day – but quickly build up into a much bigger result. If you need a quick reminder why starting small AND starting now wins the day (!), click here for our first post of 2025.
Which brings us on to the dreaded New Year’s resolutions. As Clients and regular readers of this blog will know by now, we’re not great fans of the usual approach to New Year’s resolutions. It’s the reason we refer to them as the dreaded New Year’s resolutions (!).
All too often they seem to be a reaction to all the excesses of the festive season coming home to roost. Burgeoning waistlines. Depleted bank balances. Not forgetting those “OMG did I really do / say that” moments…
Or, perhaps, they’re the New Year equivalent of “Monday Morning Syndrome” on steroids (!).
Either way, they seem to be underpinned by all your “favourite” negative emotions. Struggle, misery and more…
All the things you enjoy doing that you’re going to STOP DOING this year.
Or, all too often, someone else has decided that you’re going to stop doing (!).
It’s no surprise that smoking and drinking are top of this particular list.
Then, there are those other things you really don’t enjoy doing at all, that you’re going to START DOING in the vain hope that your life will be magically transformed.
Or, again, someone else has decided for you…
And, if you’re really unlucky, based a festive season gift around (!). So, now you have something you didn’t ask for, to do an activity you don’t want to do. Talk about a double whammy...
Again, there are no surprises that going on a diet and taking more exercise feature at the top of this list.
So, rather than starting the lovely shiny New Year with a skip in your step – and song in your heart – you spend the first part of January – at least (!) – in “doom, gloom and despondency” mode. What a way to start a New Year.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time we’ve talked about this traditional way of starting the year and – in theory – improving your life. Year after year we see people doing the same thing over and over again with the same results.
Or, more accurately, non results. Guaranteed failure. 100%.
Yet, no one stops to ask why on earth they do the same thing over and over again. One that doesn’t produce the results they would like. And makes them miserable in the process.
So why is this?
The easy answer is that everyone else is doing it and it’s seen as the thing to do.
However, if you look a little deeper, you’ll see it’s underpinned by some very nonsensical logic. That you can only get something you desire – or, all too often, think you should desire (!) – by being completely miserable in the process.
It’s as if being miserable now is an acceptable price to pay for the hope that you may be happy at some date in the future.
Now that you’ve stopped to think about it – probably for the first time (!) – doesn’t it sound completely illogical?!?
While it may come across as being rather blunt, doing anything that makes you miserable NOW in the hope that the end result will make you happy in the FUTURE never works. Full stop. End of story.
To start with, this approach makes whatever you’re trying to achieve much, much harder to do. Rather than doing something because you enjoy doing it – and feeling inspired by the process – you’re relying on sheer willpower. Instead of going with the flow, you have to constantly force things to keep them on track.
Added to this – if you do manage to achieve the desired result – so much struggle and negative energy has been invested in the process that we can guarantee you won’t feel happy when you get there. More likely, you’ll feel exhausted by all the effort and disappointed that the struggle continues as you attempt to maintain the desired end result.
Time and again we hear people saying how disappointed they are that the end result didn’t give them the sense of achievement and happiness they expected. How it wasn’t worth all the struggle and unhappiness. And, yet, they keep repeating this process over and over again in the hope it’ll produce different results next time.
Or as Einstein so eloquently put it:
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
So, what’s the answer?
Well, as usual, the answer is very simple and the exact opposite of accepted wisdom.
It’s all about being 100% clear on the reason behind any change. The “why”. Exactly why do you want to do it?
However much someone has told you that you SHOULD make a particular change – or you’ve read about it in the paper / on line / heard it on the TV / fill in the blank – UNLESS you have the right motivation for making it, you’re doomed to failure.
And, as a quick aside, whenever you find yourself using the “should” word, treat it as a big, red STOP sign. As are its younger brothers, “would” and “could”. They’re all surefire signs that you’re not inspired to do whatever it is. Full stop. End of story. For a reminder why this is ALWAYS the case, click here.
By the right motivation we mean you must HAVE A GENUINELY POSITIVE REASON FOR DESIRING TO MAKE THAT CHANGE. And, preferably, several. Reasons that fill you with a positive emotion and make you smile when you think about them. In other words, that make you feel happy / satisfied / fulfilled / fill in the blank – when you think about doing whatever it is. Not to mention achieving it.
This means you’ll feel happy while you’re making the change part of your life AND when you’ve achieved it.
Why is this so important?
Because it moves you away from having to rely on willpower – forcing the change to happen – to being inspired to make it. And once you’re inspired, change is so much easier. Life starts to flow and you’re on your way.
It’s such a key – and overlooked – part of successfully making any change, regardless of the time of year (!) that we’re going to devote next week’s blog post to it.
In the meantime, we’ll leave you to mull over the changes you’d like to make this Year, the smaller the better, AND the important bit, the why. Why you’d like to do so AND the positive reason(s) for wishing to do so. Now, doesn’t that feel like a much better way to start this lovely, shiny New Year?!?
As always, the choice is yours.
Copyright © 2025 Elaine Smart, Smart Holistics. All rights reserved.
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