How far did your new year resolutions work this year?
Originally posted on LinkedIn on 28 Aug 2025
How far did your new year resolutions work this year?
Are they already long forgotten? Don’t give up just yet.
Ajahn Brahm, a Buddhist monk known for his practical and often humorous wisdom, once shared a simple story.
He held up a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this?”
The answer, he said, doesn’t depend on the weight itself but on how long you hold it. A minute is fine. An hour, and your arm aches. A day, and it feels unbearable. To make it light again, all you need to do is put it down.
Change works the same way. We often try to hold on with sheer willpower. But the longer we strain, the heavier it feels.
The real key? Simple practices that guide you toward lasting change.
Take weight loss.
Crash diets might bring quick results, but sustaining that level is the real challenge. Imagine you always feel hungry around 4 pm. Instead of reaching for coffee and cake, preempt it with a small salad at 3:30. One small shift helps you avoid slipping back into the old loop.
Or quitting smoking.
Rather than relying on the promise “I will not smoke,” make it easier for yourself. Notice the situations where you tend to give in, and design rules around them. For example, choosing to meet friends at a restaurant where smoking is not allowed is a far simpler rule to follow.
Lasting change is less about fighting yourself and more about shaping your environment and routines. Pay attention to your patterns. Once you see them, make small adjustments to disrupt them. Simple practices like these are the scaffolding that keep new behaviors in place, one step at a time.
As we move through the rest of 2025, maybe it is time to adjust the resolution: don’t just push harder. Design smarter. Put the glass down.
What have you found helpful in creating sustainable change in your own life?