Why are we always get stuck? Are you wanting to complete something but there are always obstacles that keep you away?
"This time I surely want to lose weight. I promise."
"This year I gonna accomplish XXX, YYY, ZZZ." You wrote down on your annual resolution.
But month passed, why you still haven't get started? (or give up halfway)
I know you.
In this article, you are going to learn 3 applicable ways to move the needle. (If the first 2 didn't work out, I'm sure the last one will work for you, I PROMISE.
So let's dive in!
1. Keep track
"You can't manage what you can't measure."
quoted Peter Drucker, the management thinker.
Our brain is not good at tracking things (if you don't believe, try to recall how many times you have exercise for this month?), so the best way to keep track is to write a habit tracker journal, either paper or digital.
For example, if you want to start jogging, draw a "30 days jogging challenge" calendar, and cross them out at the end of the day if you did went jogging. After 30 days, you are able to track your progress. It gives you awareness if most of the boxes are unchecked, and you will notice that you make progress if you see the a lot of X on your journal. Not to mention the "crossing out" act give you that "feel good" effect which drive you to continue doing!
The downside of this method is, even "tracking" itself is a habit to build, many people gives up tracking after a while. And here comes our second tip.
2. Make it public
Most of the time we keep our goals/promises to ourselves, because we don't like to be judged by others if we failed to keep our promises. “Promise to run a marathon in front of many friends, but failed to commit." Dang! Imagine that feeling.
Keep promise secretly can protect us. Even if you don't act as what you've promised, no one is going to laugh at you because they don't even know! And this give us a perfect excuse to keep procrastinating.
The best way to solve it is, tell people around you what you are going to achieve. The more people you tell, the better. A even braver move is to publish on your social media. Make "everyday progress" story each day, or announce the deadline of your task.
You will feel the "tension" when make it open, as you know people are watching. You don't want to look like a non-completer or procrastinator to them.
However, if you are the kind of person who don't bother about what other people thinking, this might still not work for you.
Let's move to the third way, and I'm sure this will work.
3. Bet with someone (I mean serious BET)
Bet your promise with your friend. If you are going to run a total of 30 km for this month, tell your friend this:
"I will run 30km this month. If failed to do so, I will paid you xx amount of money."
Or, a even more effective way is, you deposit the money first, and only able to win them back if you keep your promise.
Losing money is one of the least thing people wish to encounter, so it works. You might can't keep a habit tracker, you might think breaking promises mean nothing, but losing money surely make your heartache.
Now here's the important thing to note - your bet must be big enough to make you heartache. If RM 10 means nothing to you, then go for RM 20, RM 50 and so on...This is the last killer trick to progress. It sounds extreme, but if normal gentle way can't help, give it a try.
So these are the ways. No matter what way you are using, they only work if you really want to achieve that goal. If not, you don't even bother to try, make sense?
If you have try any tips above and did helped you, share your success in a comment below!
Written by,
Shiang Jiun
Dietitian
English 
Chinese