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Top 5 Things She WON’T do in 2010
Thanks Helen for letting me be part of your Editorial Daily Bread. Happy New Year to all. J
Resolutions to Make or Break
December 29, 2009
By Helen JonsenEditor’s Daily Bread I am not one for making resolutions timed to a date on the calendar. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t make changes in my life. But I am a realist. Change happens when it can and when it should not because we are ringing in the New Year. Realizing I am not the one to write about resolutions, I turned to one of our guest bloggers for some insight. Jen Drexler, a co-founder of Just Ask a Woman and co-author of What She’s Not Telling You: Why Women Hide The Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About it (November 2009) gives us the inside scoop on how working moms deal with resolutions.
Jen’s take:
So it’s the new year. Now what? Surely we are all thrilled to have 2009 behind us but can we even imagine what 2010 has in store? Will more of us work harder for less money? Will some of us lose our jobs because companies waste money versus invest in people? Will our spouses/partners resent us because we are still employed? All of these are unknowns but the one thing I know for sure is that as working mothers we are unlikely to keep our lofty resolutions.
At the start of every year, women pledge to improve their behavior. Eat better. Join a gym. Quit smoking. Get organized. Blah. Blah. Blah. Why do we promise what we have no intention of doing? Who are we trying to please? Who are we kidding?
My company surveyed over 500 women to find out the state of resolutions for 2010 and 54% said that resolutions aren’t even worth making.
Here are the 5 RESOLUTIONS that women WON’T be keeping this year and WHY:
1. She WON’T eat Healthier. She makes this Half Truth promise because she has good intentions. She wants to lose weight and knows she needs to, but by optimistically saying she will, she thinks it’s true. But she won’t really follow up
2. She WON’T start exercising. Her friends, her husband and her kids would be so proud of her if she finally got serious about exercise. By promising to do it, she gets their acceptance and love and then she can do what she wants.
3. She WON’T quit smoking. There are too many reasons (emotional and physical) why she thinks quitting is too hard. It’s a vicious cycle because when she starts thinking about all of those reasons they stress her out and she reverts to smoking to handle the stress.
4. She WON’T get organized. No one wants to be a slob or to be perceived as out of control so she says this to protect her ego. The Whole Truth is that her “system” is working fine enough for her to get by most of the time.
5. She WON’T pay down her debt. This one is the big dirty secret. The past year has whipped us all into a frenzy of cutting up credit cards, keep to a budget and saving. But the truth is that when the money starts coming in she will find new ways to spend it versus making amends for the past.
This shouldn’t sound defeatist but rather motivate us as working mothers to consider resolutions that are more reasonable. If you motivate yourself to get on a path towards better health, wealth or sock drawers make sure that you use baby steps and rewards along the way to celebrate.
Thanks, Jen. Any ideas what those rewards should be?
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