Sticking to New Year's resolutions take planning, practice and patience

By now a lot of you have started ignoring or totally trashed your New Year's resolutions. • Some of you may be feeling pretty guilty about this. But the truth is that for most of us, resolutions just don't work and the reason is pretty simple. • According to the research, it takes three to four weeks to build a new habit into your daily life. Lasting change takes time, effort and a good amount of preplanning. But most of us just jump into hastily made resolutions. No wonder we fail. • On my way to present a healthy habits workshop, I ran into a woman carrying a colorful salad on a tray into her office for lunch. I remarked that her meal looked delicious. She looked at me, frowned, and then sadly said that she "would have rather been eating Burger King." • Chances are that the healthy habit she was trying to force herself to adopt was not going to stick. According to the new science of neuroplasticity, which is all about our brain's remarkable ability to change, our chances of forming new habits depend on some of the characteristics summarized here:

1 Plan, plan and then plan some more. Most resolutions are prematurely abandoned due to a lack of proper planning. During the planning stage, we need to assess the pros and cons that are involved in any proposed change. Any change, no matter how beneficial or necessary, includes gains and losses. A thorough plan helps us prepare for this reality so we will be less likely to feel blindsided and give up. If weight loss is your goal, you'll get lots of planning help on the free Web site sparkpeople.com.

2Pay attention to the new habit you are trying to embrace. Most of us are probably spending too much time paying attention to all the annoying habits we have accumulated over the years. That same energy and focus should be trained on the new healthier habits we are trying to acquire. By practicing the simple art of attention, especially positive attention that includes as many senses as possible, we increase our chances of adopting this new behavior.

3Practice, practice, practice. Each and every time you repeat an old unhealthy habit, it is as if you travel down the same neurological pathway you have been trying to leave. You might want to picture a deep, well-traveled rut in a dirt road. The rut gets deeper and deeper each time you use it. Trying to form any new habit can really feel awkward at times, almost painful. Stick with it and be sure to normalize the discomfort so you don't start telling yourself stories that lead you back into that old rut. You are literally trying to create a new neural pathway, which takes time, patience and practice.

4Continually evaluate and decrease stress levels. Stress can undermine success in more ways than you can imagine. No matter what behavior you are trying to change, taking some deep breaths and being mindful of your ongoing level of stress can dramatically improve your chances for success. Most weight-loss programs now include stress reduction techniques because research shows a 30 to 40 percent overall improvement rate when dieters become less stressed. Combining daily stress reduction practices with any new behavior can enhance and speed up progress toward your goals.

So, pick up those New Year's resolutions you threw away or never even picked up, and try applying these strategies. And don't forget to take a deep breath before you get started.