Deceive Yourself & Win!

In keeping with the season, I wanted to post on the subject of New Years' Resolutions. Undoubtedly, not a favorite among many I speak to, including yours truly. There are a number of ways in which to deal with the matter.

1. Deny-Ignore it and it will go away. Treat it as a non-issue.
(Self explanatory-not recommended. The guilt gets you one way or the other.)
2. Demean the resolution-Make the resolution so simple it will be impossible to break.
(Also, not recommended for obvious reasons.)
3. Devise a plan-Establish a resolution with increment, attainable steps built in to insure your success. Highly recommended, but how organized an individual are you?
4. Deceive yourself-Declare a resolution which is a reward with a resulting positive effect of another sort. (The pick of the litter!)
By way of explanation why No. 4 rocks, I'll give you a for instance.
For instance, you want to lose weight, a favorite for New Years' Resolutions, but one of the hardest to accomplish. Why is it so hard? Because you make it hard! If it is so hard, then you can hardly be held responsible for not accomplishing your goal? You bet. Before you stick your nose in the air, oh holier than thou, let me just point out, you have already deceived yourself into not sticking to your resolution. So, why not let the deceit work in your favor?
In other words, don't reward yourself for sticking to your resolution. Start with the reward as the goal and accomplish your goal as a matter of fact.
You've done this before, and already know how hard it is.
To accomplish the ultimate goal of weight loss, simply institute a resolution to do something nice for yourself this year, like a vacation to the Caribbean. Save your money to put in a 'trip kitty'. And hey, one way to save money is to take your lunch to work. It's much more cost effective to put together something from your leftovers than to buy lunch out. As well, you could make some smart diet choices to skimp on the calories as well as your pocket book. Because you know you'll want to look dynamite on the beach when you take your trip.
So, every time you feel like eating that Big Mac & Fries, take a break and go into the restroom, stand in front of the mirror and look over those areas you want to re-sculpt. The difference is you can make that choice feeling empowered, instead of impoverished!
By the end of the year, your trip kitty is swollen and your waistline has shrunk! Now don't you feel cheated and deceived? Who cares, you're lying on beach in a stunning bikini, showing off your stunning New Years' resolution! Success is sweet.

PS-One tip on the lunch thing whether it's your resolution or not. I take lunch 4 days a week and eat out once. My menu choice on the 4 days I take lunch is chicken and salad. Yes. All 4 days. One day I take left over roasted chicken and a side of green salad. The next day I take homemade chicken salad (made from my leftover roasted chicken. The 3rd day, I make myself a Cobb salad, you guessed it... made from my leftover grilled chicken. Day 4, maybe homemade chicken soup. Then on Day 5 I splurge and eat out. I go to Pollo Loco and get a Pollo Caesar Salad!