January 23, 2023

Letter to Myself 005: New Year, New Me... Right?

Letter to Myself 005: New Year, New Me... Right?

Hello! For LTM 005, we’ll be talking about the pressures of New Year’s resolutions and whether or not they are necessary for creating change.

Hello! For this edition of Letter to Myself, we’ll be talking about the pressures of New Year’s resolutions and whether or not they are necessary for creating change.

You know that line about gyms being full on January 1st and then empty by the 2nd? This long-running joke (no pun intended) is a perfect example of why resolutions aren’t a means to an end when it comes to solidifying new habits and lifestyle changes. Resolutions can create a feeling of invisible pressure where you are not doing something not because you want to, but because time and other restraints make it feel that you have to. Feeling like you’re adding another thing to an already endless and tiring to-do list can be a surefire way to hinder your progress. 

Although things like a start date and incremented schedule may be of great help to some, it can be disheartening and hard to follow for others. No matter your end-goal, it’s important to consider why you wanted to implement change in the first place. Will it improve your quality of life, health, or both? Is it something you’ve wanted to do for a while? Is it a small change that will contribute to a much larger change? Asking yourself these questions and using their answers to serve as motivation can be much more incentivising than following a strict time structure. 

This is just one tip of many for creating change that will stick with you beyond January 1st. More are available down below!

Helping Hands

This article has a great perspective and some excellent tips for starting and implement change ➔
Want to make a change but are intimidated by the process? This article can help you become more resilient to change ➔
If you have a habit of setting a goal and then quickly falling of the tracks, this article has useful suggestions for sticking with it ➔

Client Corner

Some kind words about Cognito from a client:

We hope you enjoyed this month's Letter to Myself!. If you have monthly themes you’d like to see in the future, please send an email to lettertomyself@getcognito.ca to submit your idea.

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