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  • Hello, my Socratica Friends!

  • Were here to help you be a GREAT student.

  • Here’s a personal question: Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?

  • We do, both in January and at the start of the school year (which feels like another

  • New Year, doesn’t it?).

  • It’s a great feeling, getting a fresh start and thinking about how to improve.

  • That’s really the whole point of this series, isn’t it.

  • So let’s talk about how to MAKE resolutions, and how to KEEP resolutions.

  • First, let’s think about what makes a good resolution.

  • I’m not going to resolve to become President of NASA.

  • That’s just not reasonable.

  • A good resolution is one that is actually achievable, with a little focused effort on

  • your part.

  • This should also be something that is personally important to you.

  • Make sure your heart is really in it.

  • I’m not personally excited by marathons, so I’m not going to make a resolution to

  • take up running.

  • My resolutions always seem to be about learning something - big surprise.

  • Don’t make a resolution that’s vague, like “I’m going to get healthy.”

  • or “I’ll be a better student.”

  • Pick something very specific you want to accomplish.

  • Break it down into small, concrete, do-able actions.

  • As in if I want to get better grades, I will set aside 30 minutes every day after class

  • to review my lecture notes.

  • Or if I want to improve my Japanese reading skills, I will study 10 Japanese characters

  • every day.

  • Think how I’ll be able to take very specific actions to keep this resolution.

  • I’ll put 10 flashcards in my pocket every morning.

  • That makes it easy to pull them out and study a little when I’m taking a coffee break

  • - done!

  • Another way to pick a resolution is to think about what’s a good habit you want to adopt?

  • I want to take a 20 minute walk every day.

  • Exercise is good for the brain, it reduces stress, and it’s a good way to spend breaks

  • between Pomodoro sessions.

  • If I genuinely stick to taking a walk in the fresh air every day, I’m going to be much

  • healthier by the end of the year.

  • And I’ll have developed the kind of habit that could last a lifetime.

  • Or maybe there’s a bad habit you want to break?

  • If you smoke, you really, really should stop.

  • It stinks, it’s expensive, and it causes cancer.

  • What bad habits do you have?

  • I personally don’t have any.

  • (chewing fingernail)

  • Now don’t go overboard trying to remake yourself into a completely different person.

  • Pick one thing.

  • Okay, mayyybe two things.

  • But that’s it.

  • It’s much easier to keep track of one resolution than a whole bunch of them.

  • Especially since people who break resolutions often say it’s because theyre just too

  • busy.

  • There’s just too much going on in my life to pay attention to!

  • Well, don’t let that happen to you.

  • Let’s keep it REAL simple.

  • Every day, I’m putting 10 flashcards in my pocket.

  • How hard can that be?

  • It helps if you keep track of your progress.

  • Have your heard of this trick from Seinfeld: Don’t break the chain?

  • If you mark off every day you successfully kept your resolution on a calendar, you see

  • a growing chain of accomplishments.

  • It plays a nice little trick on your brain.

  • You can see how much good work youve done, and you don’t want to mess it up!

  • It’s a little added incentive to keep going.

  • Don’t break the chain!

  • Our friend Simone Giertz (youve probably seen her work making interesting robots) made

  • a beautiful engineered version of the resolution calendar.

  • You can find it on Kickstarter.

  • It’s seriously like a work of art.

  • Every time you do your resolution, you get to light up a day.

  • She made this beautiful thing to help her keep her resolution to meditate every day

  • for a year, to make that a new healthy habit.

  • And it totally worked for her!

  • Hey, that gives us an idea for another video!

  • How DO you meditate?

  • That’s a really useful skill to help you be a great student.

  • Ok, stay tuned.

  • Coming soon.

  • From Socratica.

  • Oh, but what if you DO break the chain?

  • Don’t beat yourself up if you slip up.

  • Get back on the horse.

  • Tomorrow IS another day.

  • Anyway, perfectionism is overrated.

  • If you succeed for 350 days of the year, isn’t that something to be proud of?

  • Compared with last year?

  • Yeah!!

  • Remember to be kind to yourself.

  • How would you treat a friend who slipped up?

  • You’d be understanding and encouraging.

  • Be that person for yourself.

  • Another thing that can help is to keep a daily journal entry about your resolution.

  • Make a note of the days that were easy - what did you do that made it so easy?

  • Or, put another way - on the days that were really hard, can you figure out what made

  • it hard?

  • Did you forget to pack a healthy lunch and so you got fast food instead?

  • Did you forget to write down your assignment in your planner, so you didn’t write your

  • paper until the last minute?

  • This kind of self-reflection can lead the way to real change, where it becomes easier

  • and easier to make your resolution a true habit, something you always do, as a regular

  • part of your life.

  • Have you heard the standard wisdom that it takes 21 days to make a new habit?

  • Okay, real talk here - that’s a pretty made-up number.

  • We read that this number came from Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon who studied amputees

  • in the 60s.

  • He found it took about 21 days for them to adjust to their new routine missing a limb.

  • Therefore...it takes 21 days to adjust to a new habit??!

  • That’s a pretty big leap right there, Max.

  • More recently, psychologist Phillipa Lally formally studied habit formation, and found

  • that it took on average 66 days to form a new habit.

  • There was a huge variance, however: some tasks were easier, and took as little as 18 days

  • to become second nature, while others were more challenging and took as long as 254 days.

  • So don’t worry if you don’t find yourself measuring up to some arbitrary standard.

  • It doesn’t sound like there is one.

  • What else can you do to make it more likely for you to succeed in keeping your Resolution?

  • Let the people around you help you.

  • It can be much easier to make these changes in your life if everyone around you is on

  • board.

  • Tell your friends and family what your resolution is.

  • That is, if they are genuinely supportive.

  • We know.

  • There are some people out there who may not want to see you change for the better.

  • That’s a sad truth about human nature.

  • Please don’t let this stop you.

  • If you feel you need to keep your resolution to yourself, that’s okay, too.

  • What’s your New Year’s Resolution?

  • Is it something we can help you with?

  • Let us know in the comments below.

  • Were all learning and growing here at Socratica.

  • We make New Year’s Resolutions because it’s a little stretch toward becoming that person

  • youre proud to be.

  • It’s all part of being a GREAT student.

  • One of our New Year’s Resolutions here at Socratica is to grow a little bigger, so we

  • can make more videos for you.

  • Would you like to help us?

  • If you find the work we do here at Socratica valuable, please consider supporting us on

  • Patreon.

  • With your help, well be able to grow our team. Thank you!

Hello, my Socratica Friends!

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