New Year’s Resolutions, the Stages of Change and Moving Towards Healthier Behavior

By: Jason Ulanet, MSCP

New Year's has always served as a convenient deadline for initiating behavioral change; "I'll begin changing as soon as the calendar changes" is the underlying message of all New Year's resolutions. The first steps on the path leading away from longstanding unhealthy habits are often intimidating and confusing, leaving us discouraged and demoralized. As a result these resolutions wind up either partially or completely broken and change does not occur. Becoming familiar with the Stages of Change model can help clarify why some efforts to change are successful and others are not.

Developed in the early 1980s by John Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente, the Stages of Change model suggests the key may have less to do with lack of motivation and willpower, and more to do with lack of adequate planning as to how motivation and willpower will be put into action. Listed below are the individual stages:

·  Precontemplation (Lack of awareness of a problem behavior, or refusal to acknowledge a need for change)

·  Contemplation (Recognition of a problem behavior, but no clear decision to change)

·  Preparation (Commitment to change is made, and strategies developed to enact this change)

·  Action (Behaviors are changed)
·  Maintenance (Behaviors are changed, and relapses or regressions are successfully prevented)

If the extent of your New Year's resolution is simply to stop a particular behavior once January 1st has arrived, it may be worthwhile to spend more time in the Preparation stage. How will you accomplish this goal? What, specifically, will you do instead of the unhealthy behavior? Will your change be an immediate and complete 180-degree change or will it be gradual? Will you be rigid in this process or will you allow for exceptions, and if so how often and to what extent? By concretely addressing these questions we expand the range of possible actions we can take for change, developing more confidence in our ability to effect and maintain that change. Otherwise, we run the risk of a reactive response to the calendar, as opposed to a proactive response to our own needs and desires for a healthier life.