What no one tells you about New Year’s resolutions!

What if I could offer you a surefire way to keep your new year’s resolutions this year? Not only in January, February and March…but all the way through 2015, and even beyond.

That’s the dream we all hold in our minds this time of year. It doesn’t matter if your goals are about your fitness, relationships, professional development, finances, or whatever — the dream is always the same. It’s the dream of finally getting over that one big hurdle (or even several of them) and moving into the future with power, confidence, success, and inner peace.

But here’s the secret no one talks about: New Year’s resolutions are often a game we’re actually wired to lose.

Let me explain.

Think of a new year’s resolution (or other commitment) that you have failed to complete in the past. Forget about why it didn’t work out for the moment…just pick one and think about it for a second. And, this is important: I do not want you to feel bad about it. Not for a second.

I’ll tell you why.

There are plenty of areas in your life–most areas, in all likelihood–where you are succeeding. It could be you’re doing well in your relationships and your business, but you’ve been struggling to get your body fat percentage where you want it to be. Or vice versa. Maybe you’re doing well financially, but you want to do even better, and yet something seems to be holding you back.

Notice anything strange? I mean, why does successfully pushing forward in some areas tend to happen relatively easily–while other challenges seem impossible to crack? Doesn’t that seem a bit odd?

The answer to this riddle lies in the deepest part of our mind/body/spirit/being, on the genetic level! And it lies in a large part in how we experience pleasure and reward as this ultimately affects our behaviours, mood and habits.

Here is a simple example that will shed some light on this for you, so you can finally keep your new year’s resolutions…for good.

Let’s say you make a resolution to lose 10 lbs. And you decide to accomplish this by, say, limiting yourself to 3 meals a day, while cutting out all snacking. However, hard as you try, you just can’t seem to stick to this regimen. And this creates a cycle where you slip up and have a snack or two once in a while…then feel so bad about it and just cave in on your plan altogether and the proceed to beat yourself up for your “lack of discipline, commitment, determination…”

Now let’s look at this from a genetic programming perspective and see the hidden forces that are at work here.

In the above scenario, what if you knew that, due to a variation in your genetic coding, you personally experienced a decreased sense of satisfaction and pleasure from eating—making you naturally wired to be a “grazer” rather than a “3 square meals” type of person?

What if you also knew that this predisposed you to eat more than you physically needed?

What if you also knew that you’re genetically programmed to seek rewards from external stimuli (like food for example) – especially the more stressed you become?

Or what if you were someone who is genetically programmed in such a way that it’s difficult for you to learn from mistakes, pulling you to repeat this same pattern over and over without even consciously realizing it?

Notice that in all of these cases, choosing the plan of 3 meals and no snacks would turn out to be a mistake. And so would beating yourself up for behaviors that you did not know how to best manage. Of course, you couldn’t know this without knowing your own genetic tendencies first.

What that means from a practical standpoint is that, unless we are completely aware of our genetic profile, we are going to be playing a guessing game any time we create a plan to execute our new year’s resolution (or any other goal for that matter).

In the above example of eating 3 meals and no snacks, the most likely outcome is that we are going to fail, because we are not acting in harmony with our own personal genetic design.

When you think about it, this perfectly explains why we all succeed in some areas, but fail in others.

We often do what “we think sounds right,” or what is recommended to us by experts we trust…….

Some of it works because it happens to be in line with our genetic predispositions, while the rest tends to fall flat.

That’s why I make the bold statement that New Year’s resolutions are a rigged game.

We’re told that if we just try harder this year, we can make it work. But it isn’t true, any more than we can sprout wings and fly like a bumblebee this year if we just put our minds to it. Can’t happen!!

On the other hand, once we are able to peer inside our genetic coding, it becomes relatively easy to tailor a plan of action that is 100% in line with how we are designed to behave, setting us up for success rather than failure.

In the example above, if I understood my genetic legacy I would then decide to rather have 5 mini-meals a day, make sure I’m aware of my portions and set up the best coping mechanisms for me. And of course this same logic works for any type of goal you’re trying to achieve, whether it’s work related, psychological, financial, etc.

In other words, the problem you’re struggling with isn’t really THE problem. The REAL problem is actually the way that you’re “ATTACKING” your challenges and the hurdles that stand in the way of what you want.

Genetic testing, specifically around mood, behaviour and habit has never been easier or more affordable.

Just a few years ago, decoding your genetic blueprint would cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. But fortunately today this is not the case. And in fact, it’s easier than anyone could have imagined even 5 years ago – you receive a kit by mail, you provide a quick saliva sample, and send it back to the lab. Three weeks later, you get a full report and consultation that gives you the most incredible insight you’ve ever received into who you are–and why you behave the way you do.

More importantly, you’ll finally be able to customize all of your success plans in a way that gives you the advantage to succeed, rather than setting yourself up for failure. 

That is the power of acting in lockstep with our genetic programming!

The opportunity to SUCCEED has never been greater!

The challenge however is to take that bold step away from following the masses and doing what has typically kept you STUCK and move towards being the LEADER of your life and doing something innovative, personalized and unique for you! The question is – will you step up to the challenge this year to do something different and unique and thereby achieve something greater than you ever have.

I hope you do!

Until next week – embrace your inner truth, live your purpose and make your contribution in the world.

With gratitude and appreciation,
Lauren