RESOLUTIONS JAN 2021

JANUARY 2021

2020

2021

RESOLUTIONS Triumphing Over the Traps Pitfalls to avoid as you try to lose weight

BECOME A BETTER YOU Tips to beat your bad habits

From Resolution to Reality 3 strategies that can help you achieve your goals in the year ahead

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Consider a sponsor Campus-based clubs may require supervision of a faculty member. Sponsors also can be a good idea for private clubs, and they may provide a meeting space. Reach out to local businesses or houses of worship to see if they can sponsor a potential club.

Establish a mission statement Put your goals for the club in writing. The mission statement needn’t be lengthy, but it can help set the tone for the club. For example, book clubs may aim to read and analyze one book per month. A club’s mission statement also can be as simple as having fun.

Try new experiences by starting a club

S

hared interests are often the foundation of lasting relationships. Clubs can be a great way for people of all ages to connect with those who share their passions.

Clubs are organizations that are dedicated to a particular interest or activity. Clubs can be academic-based, hobby-based, faith-based, or rooted in any subject that people share a passion for. While clubs are often associated with school-aged children, they’re also widely accessible and positive outlets for adults.

Adults interested in clubs can see if there are any in or around where they live, work or go to school. If nothing seems to fit the bill, adults can start a club. In fact, for people who resolve to try new activities and interests or meet new

people, beginning a club can be an ideal outlet. Here’s how to get the ball rolling.

Pick an interest Interests can include anything from sports to culinary arts to reading. Even activities that people do on their own, like reading, can be turned into activities for clubs. For example, book clubs encourage discussing a book together as opposed to reading the book together.

Encourage others to join Adding members to a club can be a multitiered process. Post flyers and information in places where potential club members are likely to see it. If you’re interested in starting a cycling club, post flyers near popular trails and/or at bike shops. Turning to social media also can be a great way to get the word out. The bigger the reach, the more potential members you can attract.

Grow the club Once the club is established, encourage members to bring friends. This will help with recruitment and can further spread the word about your club. n

RESOLUTIONS REGIONAL PRESIDENT: STEVE FISHER REGIONAL GENERAL MANAGER: CHAD HJELLMING REGIONAL MANAGING editor: SUZANNE ROOK Regional Director of Sales: TOM KELLING advertising: Jordan Andreas, Amber Casterton, Kathleen Davies, Victoria Davis, Jennifer Flowers, Crystal Hobart, Britney Marr, Tim Mart, Mark Nelson, Deanna Walters designer: Kate Townsend-Noet All advertising contained herein is the responsibility of the advertisers. This publication is ©2021 by APG SoMinn and no content can be reproduced without permission.

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How to track your progress en route to getting healthy weight.”

If your goals are specific, you can set benchmarks throughout the year that help you measure the progress you’re making en route to achieving your ultimate goal. If you want to lose 10 lbs. and you’ve lost six by the end of June, that’s measurable progress toward your goal that can motivate you to keep going.

E

ach January, many people resolve to improve their overall health in the year ahead. Such resolutions can serve as motivating factors that compel people to live longer, healthier lives.

New Year’s resolutions have proven hard to keep. While it’s difficult to pinpoint how many people are successful with their resolutions, reports indicate that success is typically elusive. A recent report from U.S. News & World Report found that 80 percent of resolutions fail by February.

One of the tricks to realizing a resolution is to continue making progress toward your goal.

Finding ways to measure progress can make the difference between staying the course in the year ahead or having your resolution fall short. · Set specific goals. It’s essential that people who are hopeful that a New Year’s resolution will help them get healthier be specific when setting their goal. For example, it’s easy to determine if you’re on a path to success if you declare your intention to lose 10 lbs. rather than simply saying, “I want to lose

· Take a friend along for the ride.

Friends also can serve as both measuring sticks and motivators en route to getting healthy. A partner who’s also striving to get healthier can make it that much easier to get to early morning or late night workouts. This person can make sure you’re up in the morning and let you know if it’s been awhile since you’ve shown the commitment necessary to achieve your goal. If your workout partner is more than halfway to his or her goal by mid-year and you’re lagging behind, you can compare routines to determine if there’s any tweaks you can make to increase your chances of being successful. · Document everything.

Strava is an internet service that tracks exercise and incorporates social networking. Strava helps millions of runners and cyclists track their

workouts so they can see if they’re staying the course each day or falling short of their goals. Such services can be highly effective at tracking progress, but people aiming to get healthier also can use a notebook to keep detailed records of workouts, caloric intake and other factors that can help them get healthy. · Visit your physician. Doctors can be invaluable resources as people try to get healthy. Schedule a physical early in the year and ask your doctor to help you set goals.

Then schedule a follow-up later in the year to see how your efforts are affecting your overall health. Few things can prove as motivational as a good report from the doctor.

Resolutions have a tendency to fall by the wayside. But with some effective metrics, people can make serious progress toward getting healthier in the year ahead. n

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users’ exercise activities and their participation in these digital health communities.

Such communities served as motivating factors for people aiming to live healthier lives.

Relying on others for support, insight and motivation can be a great way to achieve your goals, no matter what those goals are.

2 3 strategies that can help you achieve your goals in the year ahead

W

hen the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, many people are living it up and toasting the dawn of a new year. Come the afternoon of January 1, those same people might have shifted their focus to the year ahead.

January is a great time to set professional and personal goals. Setting goals can have a greater impact than people may know. Studies examining the importance of setting goals are few and far between, and some have even been revealed as fallacies after being accepted as authentic for years. But a 1979 study that asked newly minted Harvard MBA graduates about setting goals found that 13 percent had set goals. When interviewers followed up with survey participants a decade

later, they found that the 13 percent who had set goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent of participants who had set no specific goals at all.

While there’s no universal formula for success, successful people often cite the importance of setting goals and how doing so was integral to their success. The following are some strategies that may help people achieve their goals in the years ahead.

1

Make it a group effort

A 2013 study from a University of Connecticut researcher found that there is a high level of correlation between

Set goals big and small

No goal is too small, and no big goal should be considered beyond reach. In fact, achieving small goals can provide motivation and inspiration along the way to realizing your larger goals. Devise a one-month plan, a six-month plan and a 12-month plan for the year ahead. The one-year plan can serve as your big goal, while the one- and six-

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month plans can serve as small motivators and great ways to track your progress en route to achieving your larger goal.

3

Write down why you’re setting goals

People set goals for various reasons, and writing down the reasons they’re pursuing their goals can serve as inspiration when challenges arise. For example, if you aspire to change careers to spend more time with your family, writing that down can provide motivation to keep looking for opportunities when a job search stalls or feels fruitless.

A new year is a great time to set goals. A handful of strategies can help people set their goals and keep them on track toward achieving them. n

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How to be a better mentor

M

entors can have profound impacts on the lives of the people they mentor. A mentor is often a source of wisdom and support over the course of months or even years. The relationship between mentor and mentee can endure as long as each person desires.

Serving as a mentor can be rewarding.

Certain traits and practices set mentors apart. Those who want to be mentors can follow these tips.

Be a good and active listener Mentors help mentees navigate the tricky waters of life but will not solve all problems. Mentors need to listen to what mentees say, meaning good listening skills are an essential trait for prospective mentors. After listening, mentors can provide a host of solutions, though ultimately it is up to the mentee to find his or her own path.

Meld with the mentee Mentors and their mentees need to be close and compatible. A good mentor will not try to manipulate or influence decisions, but realize that support and guidance are the best ways to get messages across. Asking a lot of questions and truly getting to know the mentee can set a strong foundation for the relationship.

Emphasize learning Mentors realize that continuing education is vital to success. Good mentors tend to be lifelong learners who share the lessons they’ve learned with the people they mentor. Even though they may not always be experts, mentors try to be as informed as possible on topics that relate to the mentorship.

Set expectations It is one thing to provide support, but mentors also should inspire their mentees to work hard. Once mentees cite their goals, good mentors will share their own expectations and goals for their mentees, even going so far as to offer advice as to how to achieve those goals.

Deliver honest feedback Good mentors will not sugarcoat feedback in order to stay in their mentees’ good graces. A mentor should aspire to be both a critic and a coach. Even though mentees may want to garner praise, mentors know it is important to say what others may not be willing to say. With the right feedback, mentees can flourish.

Honesty, listening skills, a life-long desire to learn, and the ability to mesh with a mentee are all qualities of solid mentors. n

Resove to read more and reap the benefits It may be tempting to curl up on the couch and turn on the television to unwind, but research indicates that reading is one of the best workouts for the brain. The World Health Organization says that doctors diagnose nearly 10 million new cases of dementia each year. With so many people understandably concerned about any and all cognitive issues related to aging, the search is continually on to find ways to strengthen the mind’s muscle. It may be as simple as picking up a book.

People make New Year’s resolutions to improve their lives, and reading more can be a great way to do just that. According to the online health and wellness resource The Healthy (www.thehealthy.com), reading has been associated with language reception in the left temporal cortex of the brain. When this part of the brain processes written material, neurons begin working hard to transmit information. Research conducted by Stanford University indicated that MRI scans of people who are deep into a Jane Austen novel showed an increase in blood flowing to areas of the brain that control both cognitive and executive function.

When the brain is working efficiently, it may be less prone to some of the issues that can cause a decline in memory and brain function. Research published in the journal Neurology found frequent brain exercise through reading lowered mental decline by 32 percent.

Of course, the benefits of reading extend beyond the physical. Literary fiction can help people be more empathetic. Getting lost in a book and the characters’ stories makes others more relatable. Reading has the potential to help a person understand what people are thinking, offers research published in the journal Science.

Picking up a good book also can help a person gain knowledge of new cultures, ideas and history and even improve vocabulary.

Picking up a newspaper or magazine, joining a book club or reading with children are just a few of the many ways to improve the mind through reading. n

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Learn the ways to beat bad habits

T

he start of a new year can be a rejuvenating time when people take inventory of their lives and make positive changes.

In a quest for personal growth, many people resolve to reduce or eliminate bad habits.

might work for some but not for others. Perseverance is essential to kicking bad habits, and the following are some additional tips that can help people as they try to ditch certain behaviors once and for all.

says the brain finds it easier to do something new than to simply stop doing something it’s accustomed to. So if you’re a nail-biter, do something else with your hands, like play a musical instrument, to create a new pattern.

Habits are one of the ways in which the brain establishes patterns for neurons to follow. Habits help people work on autopilot some of the time, which can save time and energy, according to Medium.com, an information site educating the public on a wide array of timely topics. Good habits, like showing up to work on time, are worth maintaining. But bad habits can be problematic and potentially unhealthy.

· Recognize the habit. No person is perfect, and each of us has our strengths and weaknesses.

Recognizing a bad habit is the first step toward breaking it.

· Penalize yourself within reason.

Making a habit painful in one way or another may make it easier to quit. Penalizing yourself by paying a dollar each time you say a curse word, or extending a workout for an extra 30 minutes for each one you miss are some examples of simple punishments.

Strategies to break bad habits

· Break the pattern by offering a new one. As noted, when a habit is established, neurons form a pattern. Establishing a new, better habit, rather than just trying to quit the bad habit cold turkey, can be an effective way to help the brain adjust to a new pattern, advises neuroscientist Elliot Berkman. He

How adults can find new hobbies

Leisure time can seem like a luxury for many adults.

While it can seem like there’s little time in the day to do more than tend to responsibilities at work and at home, people may have more time to pursue leisure activities than they realize.

In its 2018 American Time Use Survey, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 96 percent of people age 15 and over engaged in some sort of leisure activity on an average day. Leisure time also seems part and parcel of daily life in Canada, where the average person age 15 and over spent roughly one hour per day engaging in active leisure, which includes activities like drawing, playing an instrument and dancing, and more than two hours per day on passive leisure, such as watching

· Reward yourself for beating habits. Rewards for kicking bad habits can be just as effective as penalizing bad behavior. Reward yourself with something unusual

television or reading books.

How people spend their leisure time might affect their perceptions about that time. For example, few people may consider watching television an “activity,” though the American Time Use Survey found that watching TV occupied more leisure time, nearly three hours per day, than any other leisure activity. Finding new hobbies that encourage active participation can make leisure time more memorable. · Think back to your childhood. Hobbies you once enjoyed as a child may have long since been forgotten, but it can be fun to reimmerse yourself in such interests. Adults who loved to play sports as a child can no doubt find adult leagues in their area, while once budding artists might want to dust off their easels and visit a local paint and sip facility. · Reinvent something you’re already doing. Another way to find a new hobby is to consider the things

and meaningful after you kick a bad habit. · Learn your triggers and avoid them. The self-improvement blog Pick the Brain indicates that every bad habit has a cue that can trigger it. Triggers fall into these categories: location, time, emotional state, other people, and an immediately preceding action.

By learning your triggers, you can work to avoid them. If eating junk food comes on the tails of a stressful commute, try a different way home. If you smoke when you’re around a particular person who eggs you on, take a break from hanging out with this person.

Breaking bad habits is challenging, but it can happen with focus and dedication.n

you already do and see if there’s ways to make them better. For example, cooking for a family each night might be made more enjoyable by enrolling in a cooking class, where you can meet fellow foodies while fine-tuning your culinary skills. If you love to read, start a community book club. · Expand your horizons. It’s easy for anyone to say “no” to something new, but especially so for adults accustomed to their routines. But men and women who are willing to try anything are more likely to find something new to be passionate about than those who shy away from the unknown. You don’t have to make a big initial commitment when trying a new hobby, but approach any new ideas or suggestions with an open mind.

Finding a new hobby as an adult can be tricky. But approaching activities with an open mind may help people uncover new hobbies they can be passionate about.

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