We’re here to help you be a GREAT student.

Here’s a personal question: Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?

We do, both in January and at the start of the school year (which feels like another

New Year, doesn’t it?).

It’s a great feeling, getting a fresh start and thinking about how to improve.

That’s really the whole point of this series, isn’t it.

So let’s talk about how to MAKE resolutions, and how to KEEP resolutions.

First, let’s think about what makes a good resolution.

I’m not going to resolve to become President of NASA.

That’s just not reasonable.

A good resolution is one that is actually achievable, with a little focused effort on

your part.

This should also be something that is personally important to you.

Make sure your heart is really in it.

I’m not personally excited by marathons, so I’m not going to make a resolution to

take up running.

My resolutions always seem to be about learning something - big surprise.

Don’t make a resolution that’s vague, like “I’m going to get healthy.”

or “I’ll be a better student.”

Pick something very specific you want to accomplish.

Break it down into small, concrete, do-able actions.

As in if I want to get better grades, I will set aside 30 minutes every day after class

to review my lecture notes.

Or if I want to improve my Japanese reading skills, I will study 10 Japanese characters

every day.

Think how I’ll be able to take very specific actions to keep this resolution.

I’ll put 10 flashcards in my pocket every morning.

That makes it easy to pull them out and study a little when I’m taking a coffee break

- done!

Another way to pick a resolution is to think about what’s a good habit you want to adopt?

I want to take a 20 minute walk every day.

Exercise is good for the brain, it reduces stress, and it’s a good way to spend breaks

between Pomodoro sessions.

If I genuinely stick to taking a walk in the fresh air every day, I’m going to be much

healthier by the end of the year.

And I’ll have developed the kind of habit that could last a lifetime.

Or maybe there’s a bad habit you want to break?

If you smoke, you really, really should stop.

It stinks, it’s expensive, and it causes cancer.

What bad habits do you have?

I personally don’t have any.

(chewing fingernail)

Now don’t go overboard trying to remake yourself into a completely different person.

Pick one thing.

Okay, mayyybe two things.

But that’s it.

It’s much easier to keep track of one resolution than a whole bunch of them.

Especially since people who break resolutions often say it’s because they’re just too

busy.

There’s just too much going on in my life to pay attention to!

Well, don’t let that happen to you.

Let’s keep it REAL simple.

Every day, I’m putting 10 flashcards in my pocket.

How hard can that be?

It helps if you keep track of your progress.

Have your heard of this trick from Seinfeld: Don’t break the chain?

If you mark off every day you successfully kept your resolution on a calendar, you see

a growing chain of accomplishments.

It plays a nice little trick on your brain.

You can see how much good work you’ve done, and you don’t want to mess it up!

It’s a little added incentive to keep going.

Don’t break the chain!

Our friend Simone Giertz (you’ve probably seen her work making interesting robots) made

a beautiful engineered version of the resolution calendar.

You can find it on Kickstarter.

It’s seriously like a work of art.

Every time you do your resolution, you get to light up a day.

She made this beautiful thing to help her keep her resolution to meditate every day

for a year, to make that a new healthy habit.

And it totally worked for her!

Hey, that gives us an idea for another video!

How DO you meditate?

That’s a really useful skill to help you be a great student.

Ok, stay tuned.

Coming soon.

From Socratica.

Oh, but what if you DO break the chain?

Don’t beat yourself up if you slip up.

Get back on the horse.

Tomorrow IS another day.

Anyway, perfectionism is overrated.

If you succeed for 350 days of the year, isn’t that something to be proud of?

Compared with last year?

Yeah!!

Remember to be kind to yourself.

How would you treat a friend who slipped up?

You’d be understanding and encouraging.

Be that person for yourself.

Another thing that can help is to keep a daily journal entry about your resolution.

Make a note of the days that were easy - what did you do that made it so easy?

Or, put another way - on the days that were really hard, can you figure out what made

it hard?

Did you forget to pack a healthy lunch and so you got fast food instead?

Did you forget to write down your assignment in your planner, so you didn’t write your

paper until the last minute?

This kind of self-reflection can lead the way to real change, where it becomes easier

and easier to make your resolution a true habit, something you always do, as a regular

part of your life.

Have you heard the standard wisdom that it takes 21 days to make a new habit?

Okay, real talk here - that’s a pretty made-up number.

We read that this number came from Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon who studied amputees

in the 60s.

He found it took about 21 days for them to adjust to their new routine missing a limb.

Therefore...it takes 21 days to adjust to a new habit??!

That’s a pretty big leap right there, Max.

More recently, psychologist Phillipa Lally formally studied habit formation, and found

that it took on average 66 days to form a new habit.

There was a huge variance, however: some tasks were easier, and took as little as 18 days

to become second nature, while others were more challenging and took as long as 254 days.

So don’t worry if you don’t find yourself measuring up to some arbitrary standard.

It doesn’t sound like there is one.

What else can you do to make it more likely for you to succeed in keeping your Resolution?

Let the people around you help you.

It can be much easier to make these changes in your life if everyone around you is on

board.

Tell your friends and family what your resolution is.

That is, if they are genuinely supportive.

We know.

There are some people out there who may not want to see you change for the better.

That’s a sad truth about human nature.

Please don’t let this stop you.

If you feel you need to keep your resolution to yourself, that’s okay, too.

What’s your New Year’s Resolution?

Is it something we can help you with?

Let us know in the comments below.

We’re all learning and growing here at Socratica.

We make New Year’s Resolutions because it’s a little stretch toward becoming that person

you’re proud to be.

It’s all part of being a GREAT student.

One of our New Year’s Resolutions here at Socratica is to grow a little bigger, so we

can make more videos for you.

Would you like to help us?

If you find the work we do here at Socratica valuable, please consider supporting us on

Patreon.

With your help, we’ll be able to grow our team. Thank you!