Spring Week 1: Making Resolutions and Keeping Them

Ironically, a lot of procrastinators are hidden perfectionist.  I struggle with perfectionism.  In a lot of ways it has served me very well.  For example I was one of 3 students from my high school accepted to UCLA and Berkeley.  In other ways it has held me back such as me being afraid not achieving goals so I never make them in the first place.  As I get older it seems my crutch of perfectionism has more negatives than positives.  

Perfectionism is the reason that most times I have made New Years resolutions I have failed.  My predictable pattern is that I will make an overly ambitious goal and do well for a while and then as soon as I encounter a set back I give up and write off the whole experience as an utter failure.  Then I feel some intense guilt for a while and am doomed to repeat the cycle :).  

This week I was listening to the Hidden Brain Podcast episode Creatures Of Habit: How Habits Shape Who We Are — And Who We Become as I was driving to work and it struck a chord with me.  I think that the main reason I failed at keeping my New Years resolutions was that I relied on my willpower and not creating small habits.  It turns out that habits are more powerful than willpower.  The people that lose weight make healthy choices not because of their amazing will power, but instead because they set themselves up for success with small changes such as not buying unhealthy food.  

One of the resolutions I was able to keep for a long time was going to the gym after work at least 3 times a week.  It turns out that the reason I was able to keep it was I joined a gym that was on my way home.  Later, when I moved to an area with gyms that were always out of the way, I broke this resolution.  

My current resolution is to eat healthier and exercise after work.  I have an exercise bike at home that I just moved into the living room in front of the TV.  The last few nights I have made myself go on the bike for 45 minutes while I play Red Dead Redemption II poorly.  On a side note, the amount of times I have shot someone unintentionally is pretty comical at this point.  

As for eating healthy I think a major problem is that fast food is so quick and easy.  After a long day the last thing I want to do is cook dinner and then clean up after cooking dinner.  So my plan is to make dinner simpler.  I can easily cook a simple meal that is healthy.  I do not need to make dinner an overly complicated thing every night.  

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