Essay #4

"This is the Year I'll...Stick to my New Year's resolutions." or using the Web to break the cycle of broken promises January 1999 Fast Company Gina Imperato Pages 173-178

I prepared this essay in the form of a letter to my colleagues.

Dear Staff,

I'm writing to let you know about a new way to approach New Year's resolutions--particularly the ones we all make and tend to let slip after awhile. The concept is presented in an article in the January issue of Fast Company magazine entitled, ""This is the Year I'll...Stick to my New Year's resolutions or using the Web to break the cycle of broken promises". I think the ideas presented in the article are both useful and creative as it becomes possible to turn to the Web as a resource for everyday activities.

The reason I think this is timely to share with you is that we participated this past year in the program, "Shape up Challenge" with the local county public health department as a 10 week fitness project. I don't know about you but I haven't kept up with my personal fitness program and after snugly buttoning a pair of jeans after Christmas that use to be baggy, I know it's time for me to get back to the routine of working out and following healthy lifestyle habits, like I did in the 10 week fitness program. I hope these tips and resources will spur us on again in whatever way we personally resolve to make improvements in our lives. And I'd be interested in your feedback--if these concepts interest you enough to check out some of the web sites or if you want to comment on any of the concepts presented.

Below is a summary of helpful tips on making resolutions followed by a summary of useful Web resources when trying to change behaviors.

Several Ways to Keep 1 Resolution

There are three factors that seem to separate those that succeed at keeping New Year's Resolutions from those who don't: 1. readiness to change; 2. the confidence that you can change; and 3. the skills needed to change (above all, an ability to plan and follow-through). Robert R. Butterworth, clinical psychologist suggests the following tips on how to keep New Year's Resolutions:

1. Make one resolution. Most people fail at resolutions because they make too many of them. Make one and discard the rest.

2. Easy does it. Don't try a dramatic 360 degree change--try 45 degrees to start. Develop your goals and measure your progress in small increments.

3. Keep it to yourself. If you talk about your resolution to others, you feel added pressure that comes with failing if you falter along the way.

4. Be your own boss. Too many times people make resolutions that other people have suggested to them, such as you really need to just lose 10 pounds or this year you can change the oil in the car. It's hard to change something you want to change and even harder to change something other people tell you to change. (In other words, if you don't want to participate in another fitness goal/program, it's up to you!)

5. Failure is part of success. Part of success is getting through bad days. We've all known people who stop smoking for 4 weeks then have one cigarette and throw in the towel for the entire year. They didn't break a resolution, they just had a bad day. Don't focus on the day you failed--focus instead on all the times (which become days, weeks and months) that you won. Don't give up!!!

Web sites that can help:

"I'm Gonna Get in Shape."

Thrive www.thriveonline.com This site has five core areas: Medical, diet, fitness, sports (outdoor recreation) and passion. Thrive offers various online resources such as newsletters, advice columns and lots of community interaction. What distinguishes Thrive from other health-oriented sites is its focus on resolutions. In its section on losing weight, there is a diagnostic quiz that evaluates how resolved you are to slim down. Once you decide on a goal you can complete a Personal Resolution Contract which generates an action plan, a 12 week contract with built-in affirmations, checklists and rewards. For those interested in healthy diet, Thrive offers an eight week program that will help you eat better including recipe sharing with other Thrive community members.

Prevention's Healthy Ideas www.healthyideas.com This web site, sponsored by Prevention Magazine and Women.com Networks, helps people commit to a healthy lifestyle through calorie analysis (how many you are taking in compared to how many you are burning) and measures your personal progress. The site has several free tools--a Daily Meal Planner which is customized to your specifications and a Calorie Calculator which helps you stick to your menu.

"I'm Gonna Get Organized"

When.com www.when.com I loved the title of this web site--when.com. It is a free event directory and calendar service which looks like a desktop/calendar/daily planner application. It offers views of your schedule by month, week and day. Just enter your new appointment and when.com will put in on the schedule and alert you to conflicts. This program can track events in more than 12 interest categories and tracks them in real time. For example, if you are a Vikings fan, when.com can alert you to the dates of all the games and puts that info in your favorite events folder. If you want them on your personal calendar, it is just a click away.

PlanetAll www.planetall.com. This web site lets you maintain a dynamic address book that is accessible from any computer with a modem. The best features about PlanetAll are that it's free and provides you with access to nearly 1.5 million other users as well. Once you subscribe, you create a personal directory that includes the coordinates of your friends and associates. With permission you can enter links to other PlanetAll members into y our directory. All address/info changes to members are made simultaneously so any directory updating is made by PlanetAll.

"I'm Gonna Manage My Money"

Quicken.com www.quicken.com At Quicken.com you will find basic financial planning tools such as worksheets, calculators and service-comparison charts. The site's Debt Reduction Planner provides tools you need to get control of your credit cards by suggesting customized adjustments to your monthly payments, cuts to monthly expenses and how much sooner you could pay off your debt if you follow its advice.

Gomex Internet Banker Scorecard www.scorecard.com/banks In the future, it has been predicted that we will all be doing our banking online. The Gomez Internet Banker Scorecard ranks the Net presence of more than 50 institutions based on ease of use, customer confidence, on-site resources, relationship services and overall costs. The site helps you identify a bank that's right for your customer profile type.

"How I Kicked Butt on the Web"

Kick Butt www.betterhealth.com/community/kickbutt Perhaps one of the most difficult behavior changes to make (and third most frequent resolution) is quitting cigarettes. Although many of us don't smoke the concepts used at the Kick Butt web site are a fascinating use of online resources. Kick Butt is a six-week antismoking program which provides smokers with all the expertise, trick of the trade and human support that they need to quit smoking. The tips include info on exercise and diet as well as "rituals" to help kick the habit. They offer online classes and discussion groups as well. The classes require homework and journaling resulting in higher motivation. It even offers a digital conscience-- a weekly e-mail that let's smokers chose a personality to remind them via e-mail of their resolve (mom is encouraging and sweet, Constance is a friend who is trying to quit with them and Coach uses a no-nonsense, stop-your-whining approach). The online discussion group, "Kick Butt Quitters Club" is a 24 hour, 7 day a week support group via e-mail offering just in time advice when a person has weakened. If all else fails, all the typing in this approach keeps a smokers hands occupied!

In conclusion, I'd like your feedback on this approach to using the Web for making improvements in personal health and behavior. Let me know if these ideas appeal to you or if you think it is possible to use the Web as a resource in this way.

Feedback

The feedback I received from my colleagues included some interesting perspectives on support and behavior change. Most of the staff agreed that this was worth a try since it is difficult to schedule time to go to support groups or exercise classes. Sometimes just knowing that someone is out there who you can talk to or is attempting to reach similar goals is enough to spur us on. Several people commented on the availability of these Web pages 24 hours per day, 7 days a week make them very accessible to those of us who have full schedules.

One person lamented that we don't have personal relationships that can serve this purpose with our families and friends spread out geographically and families moving in and out of communities. She felt that face-to-face support was preferable and it was a sad commentary that we don't make time for one another to encourage improvements in our lives. But she pointed out that the anonymity of the Web can make it less threatening to share with others our personal struggles in making these types of "New Year's Resolution" changes.

Finally, I think the use of the Web for information sharing and communication between people with common interests and goals is one of the most promising concepts for all of us getting online. It gives us pathways to one another as we navigate through the thicket of resolving to change.

-- Anonymous, January 27, 1999

Answers

Karen Johnson,

Sorry to all for the huge delay in responding to these articles. Some are quite old.

Karen, The essay was a clever, if a bit lengthy device with which to respond. Many fine ideas with a bit too many words. The feedback section was enlightening. You may want to look at the Web pages of graduate programs to see if they promise to solve any problems.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 1999