Making & Keeping New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year from the E-town Occupational Therapy Department!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? If so, you are not alone. People make all kinds of resolutions – to lose weight, exercise more, eat healthier, read more, be more patient, study harder, be more caring or generous to others…and the list goes on. But how often do people keep their resolutions? Are they too lofty, or are the expectations too high? Occupational therapists write RUMBA or SMART goals for our clients – they can be applied to writing New Year’s resolutions, too.

R – Relevant.                                                                    S – Specific

U – Understandable                                                          M – Measurable

M – Measurable                                                                 A – Attainable

B – Behavioral, e.g. observable actions.                           R – Realistic/Relevant

A – Achievable, e.g. reasonable                                       T – Timely

Regardless of which acronym you use, both of them basically direct us to set priorities, determine what is feasible to do in our time and abilities, and be specific enough that we can measure or see progress. For example, will you make a broad goal to lose weight…or maybe be more specific, i.e. to lose 5 pounds…? Or maybe your goal is to exercise more. However, if you are not currently exercising, a goal of exercising every day may not be realistic to begin with – maybe that resolution could be to walk/run for 30 minutes three times per week. Is your goal to engage in more leisure activities or take up a new hobby?  Set a goal to do this new hobby or activity at least once by the end of January or mid-February. Achieving “smaller” but realistic goals may be rewarding and motivating so that you will keep at it – whatever your goal – and then you can modify the goal to achieve even more.

What is one of your New Year’s Resolutions?