{"id":1037,"date":"2017-01-16T10:03:02","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T09:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/?p=64628\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:06","slug":"goede-voornemens-die-blijven-plakken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/01\/16\/goede-voornemens-die-blijven-plakken\/","title":{"rendered":"Making your New Year\u2019s resolutions stick"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

By the time you\u2019re reading this you\u2019ve probably already forgotten your New Year\u2019s resolutions. But during the first three days of the new year, digital timelines were chock full of tips on healthier eating habits to \u2018finally\u2019 lose that extra weight and get the same kind of body as someone who does this as a professional.<\/p>\n

But unless you\u2019ve used an ingenious reward system like the stickers you used to stop wetting the bed, there\u2019s a big chance that you didn\u2019t stick to your resolution, in spite of all the articles. So you start the new year with an unpleasant feeling, resolving to try again next year.<\/p>\n

Japanese folding-techniques<\/h3>

I believe anytime is a good time to start something new. In fact, I\u2019ll seize any opportunity to make new, often unfeasible resolutions for myself: the first day of the academic year, the first day of the month, starting a new job, or just because it\u2019s a Monday.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Self-improvement books all hinge on one principle: you have to take action\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

What makes this fun is that over the past few years I have regularly given myself the gift of a new self-improvement book. For me, these books work the same way as stickers for a six-year old. The last self-improvement book I read and put into action was Marie Kondo\u2019s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up<\/em>. Even though I haven\u2019t been able to bring to go through my collection of books (not least because I would then have to carry the boxes down from my parents\u2019 attic), this decluttering guru is <\/em>responsible for the fact that the clothes in my closet have been folded using Japanese folding-techniques.<\/p>\n

When you read a lot of self-improvement books, you know they all hinge on one principle: you have to take action. If you don\u2019t take the first step, nothing happens. To get better at doing this I decided to read the classic Getting Things Done.<\/em> In this book David Allen explains how you can efficiently organise and strike off items on your to-do list. Unfortunately I\u2019ve started reading this book three times now and I can\u2019t seem to get past chapter two. Time to break out the stickers!<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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