If you didn’t achieve your resolutions this past year, you’re in the majority of 76% of Canadians who eventually gave up on their resolutions.

The stats are discouraging enough with 69% of Canadians who choose not to make resolutions at all, but maybe they’re on to something. This year, why not do something a little different…

Don’t make a resolution, instead, create a new habit.

In order for your resolutions to stick, you need to change your behaviour. In order to change your behaviour, you need to rewire your brain.

Through the use of MRIs, neuroscientists have discovered that habitual behaviour is created from thinking patterns that create neural pathways.  These become the default for your behaviour when faced with a decision.

For example, you probably don’t have to put much thought into whether or not to brush your teeth at night. If you’re about to go to bed, the neural pathways in your brain don’t require you to make a decision – you just brush your teeth.

These same studies have shown that making a change in your behaviour by simply “trying harder” can have the opposite effect. Real change requires new neural pathways, which are created once you adapt a new habit.

So how do we create a new habit?

1) Ask yourself, “What habit will have the greatest impact on my life?”

If your goal is to sell 50 homes in the New Year, a habit you could adapt to reach that goal might be to make 50 voice-to-voice contacts each week. If you did everything in your business the same, but spoke to 50 people in your database every week, would your business improve?

2) Create a rule

Make one decision that will shape your behavior over time. An example could be that from Monday to Friday you talk to 10 people in your database every day before 12pm.

3) Follow your rule (even when it’s hard)

There’s a honeymoon phase for every new habit (that’s why the gym is so full in January), but eventually it will be much harder to follow your rule. You might say things like, “I was up late last night and I’m not in the mood to make calls. I’ll get back to it tomorrow.” Inevitably, tomorrow never comes and you’re back to where you started. Remember, you can’t have excuses and results at the same time.

Small actions performed with consistency produce great results. People often over estimate what they can do in the short term and underestimate what they can do in the long term. New habits take time.

So this year, don’t make a New Year’s resolution, resolve to create a new habit.

It’s a beautiful life.

Make it count.