8 ways to change your life this year

7/25/2019 8 Ways to Change Your Life This Year

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8 Ways To Change Your Life This Year

By Denise Foley

What is it about the stroke of midnight on December 31 that makes every problem and flaw

you have stand out like a pimple on prom night? Who invented New ear!s resolutionsanyway" the #ar$uis de %ade? &s torture goes" self'improvement is the rack and the

thumbscrew all in one

(f you!re like us" your list of fi)es is longer than your kids! letters to %anta* lose 1+ pounds"

lose more than 1+ pounds" flatten your belly" worry less" get along better with the family" put

some meaning into your life" develop a strategy to help you remember where you parked your

car,and put your keys,and be sharper at work- Worse" it!s the same list you make every

year- .Note to self* &dd /stop procrastinating/ to list-0

Don!t make a list" then cross your fingers that one of these days you!ll be discovered by a 2

makeover crew- ere are 4 relatively painless ways to fi) your life this year-

Lose 10 to 20 Pounds

5emember these words* 6ut 1++" burn 1++- (f" in the ne)t year" you cut a meager 1++ calories

a dayout of your diet" and burn an e)tra 1++ calories a day through some relatively effortless

activity" you can lose 1+ to 7+ pounds by ne)t New ear!s .and scratch this perennial

resolution off your list" finally0-

When researchers studied the e)panding waistlines of most &mericans" they discovered that

on average" people gain about 7 pounds a year- /ou don!t reali8e it in a month9 you don!treali8e it in a year9 but 1+ years later you say" !Where!d these 7+ pounds come from?!/ says

study author :ames ;- ill"


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1 slice of chocolate layer

cake .1>4 cake0

1 slice of chocolate layer

cake .1>1 cake0114

Wash your car by hand

for 71 minutes

C chocolate chip cookies 7 chocolate chip cookies


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in-/ es" you will be talking to yourself" but isn!t that less embarrassing than riding around for

7+ minutes with mall security trying to find your car?

#ae Pea+e ith Your Fa&iy

5epeat after us" /We will never be the Waltons-/ our goals need to be smaller" says eonardFelder"


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(dd #eaning to Your Life

/When you!re wondering if anyone would care if you suddenly disappeared" it!s a sure sign

that you need to contribute more"/ says psychologist %u8anne Ioglio"


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a bag- hey made their chips from a wet potato mi)ture and molded them so they would nest

together like spoons in a canister-

Pay the rando& ord'+hain ga&e* When you take two seemingly unconnected words and

string together thoughts that connect them" you form new ideas- ;ne of @ordon!s e)amples*

forest'milk- is chain* forest" maple trees" spouts draining sap for syrup" cow being milked"milk- (n the workplace" this process is known as brainstorming* coming up with ideas that

will get you from & .your problem0 to B .your desired outcome0- While most of us

brainstorm with others" doing it alone can be advantageous" says @ordon- %ome of the best

ideas spring from the silliest" he says" and if you!re alone you!re less likely to censor ideas that

might seem /wacky/ in a group-

!to- Pro+rastinating

%(N@ is the acronym for a nearly foolproof .and easy to remember0 way to stop putting

things off till tomorrow9 it was developed by /recovering procrastinator/ and motivational

speaker 5ita Emmett" author of *he Procrastinator+s Handboo'- ./( was so good at takingbreaks that ( could make a 7'hour Aob last 1 months"/ she told us-0 %he assures us this

techni$ue works for everything e)cept losing weight and $uitting smoking- ere!s how it

goes*

! !ee+t 3ust one thing to do* Does writing your novel come to mind? ;r cleaning your

Aunk drawer?

T Ti&e yoursef* Find the timer in the Aunk drawer" and set it for 1 hour to do that one

thing-

/ /gnore e"erything ese* Disregard other stuff that needs doing" the phone call you have to

make" e'mails you have to read,everything e)cept a fire in the kitchen- /;therwise" you!ll

get so sidetracked that you!ll look at the clock and say" !(t!s too late to even get started" so (!ll

do it tomorrow"!/ warns Emmett-

8 ways to change your life this year

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