At Private Prep, we are not in favor of New Year’s Resolutions because we know that only 9% of those who make them feel successful at the end of the year. Instead, we encourage change in the form of incremental shifts in habits within the context of a larger goal. Below are some tips from our executive functioning team about how you can leverage habits to make a positive impact on your life in 2025.
How to Shift Habits
- Keep It Within Your Control: First things first: make sure your larger goal is fully within your control. For instance, students might want to focus on being as prepared as possible for their tests or lowering stress levels by starting projects earlier, as opposed to aiming for specific numerical grades that are ultimately someone else’s purview.
- Make it Easy: Define a small step toward your larger goal, and make sure it feels totally doable. Resolutions often fail because we tend to overcommit, but this tendency discounts the monumental impact of small changes. While an hour a day of extra studying sounds amazing, it’s difficult to stick to, and that’s discouraging. Instead, start a new tiny-habit such as studying one formula a week by posting it on your bathroom mirror. When you’re successful, that will motivate you to build on your progress.
- Habit Stacking: When we talk to students, one of the biggest challenges they cite is remembering to implement new habits. In these cases, we encourage habit-stacking: attaching a new habit to a firmly established habit. You might up-date your to-do list right after brushing your teeth or watch a Khan Academy video on the way to school. In either case, you can use a current habit as a cue to make progress toward your goal.
- Visualize Progress: Humans are generally motivated by progress. To that end, it’s imperative that you can see your success as you build new habits. An easy way to do that is to set up a habit tracker. The idea isn’t that you must do the new habit each day, but that you be successful 75% or more of the time. If you start out with a habit that’s too big to find that level of success, that’s simply proof that you need to find a tinier habit.
- Build Accountability: Some level of friendly accountability is an important part of motivating us to continue in our efforts despite inevitable setbacks. For some of us, that can be accomplished by setting aside 15 minutes a week to reflect on our progress and adjust our approach. For others, it’s a good idea to tell someone we trust what we’re working on, and ask them to check in on our progress.
If you’re ready to set a goal and bring some new habits into your life but would like some additional support with any of the above, reach out to your director; one of our executive functioning coaches will be happy to help!
