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Media Relations

Make your New Year's resolutions in February, September

The winter holidays can be emotionally and financially stressful during good times. Add a recession and flu fears to the mix and we have a bad time for making major changes -- just as retailers begin ramping up advertising and Americans start considering the annual exercise of New Year's resolutions.

In times of uncertainty, says Bernardo J. Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast, it's common for people to look to others for answers rather than trusting what they know, making them more vulnerable to bad decisions and to advertising and marketing efforts that encourage changes or spending. When decisions are made under duress, he says, they are more likely to be mistakes.

"We know people are anxious and stressed, lonely and depressed," he said. "The rush and density of the season intensifies all of this. We say, 'Stop.' Instead of making a lot of changes, make none, or make ones that play to your strengths. The worst time to make resolutions is at the holidays because there's so much going on. You don't make a New Year's resolution in January; you make it in February, in September."

Carducci said people are more likely to spend money to feel good when they are anxious, but he said there is no evidence that this produces a long-term, enduring positive effect.

"The things we know that have enduring effects are expressing gratitude, giving forgiveness, because these remind you of the kinds of strengths and benefits that you have," he said. "Focusing on aspirational stuff, what other people have or what the ads say you need, focuses on what you don't have."

Carducci offers these suggestions when considering major changes:

• Small changes. If you're going to make drastic changes, consider small changes that go to your strengths. Anxiety can be helpful involving tasks or issues that are familiar or simple, but it can get in the way and cause mistakes involving complicated affairs.
• Give the gift of time. "Volunteering is great -- you don't have to be an expert. You can do what you know, and it's always appreciated," Carducci said. "It's also a low stress activity. What you're doing is focusing on something you can already do so you'll be a success and help others."
• Alcohol gets in the way of change. Carducci says the influence of alcohol can make change more difficult, rather than facilitate it, because it suppresses the ability to think and make decisions. It can have an immediate effect of making you feel good, but does very little to change the actual behavior. It also is a depressant.
• Look inward. Recognize that advertisements are not accurate reflections of life as we know it and can involve fear to motive change. Carducci encourages people to focus on their own values and what is important to them, not others.
• Jump off the bandwagon. Carducci says research involving conformity and social dynamics indicates it takes little effort to break conformity. "It takes one person to say, 'This is ridiculous; I'm not going to do this'" Carducci said. "When you go to a party, be the person who says, 'I'm not going to drink.'"
• Community counts. Build a sense of community by bringing people together to do something you enjoy -- such as starting a book club or hiking group.

Carducci is a professor of psychology. To learn more about the Shyness Research Institute, visit http://homepages.ius.edu/special/Shyness/.

For more articles from Bernardo J. Carducci, visit http://newsinfo.iu.edu/cat/page/normal/476.html.

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