It’s that time of year again. People make noble promises to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. Whether it’s to choose the bike over the car, to eat better, or to create safer streetsas part of the lofty goal of saving lives, any resolution worth making is worth accomplishing. So why do 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail each year?
Eight Miles a Day
The most common mistake with resolutions is that resolve isn’t quite enough. No matter how strong your resolve to jog 8 miles a day despite your sedentary lifestyle, chances are it isn’t going to happen. And there’s a good reason for that. One of the most common reasonspeople fail at New Year’s resolutions is that they are overly ambitious when they feel inspired, and then overwhelmed when inspiration passes.
Dream Big, Start Small
The most effective way to create real, ongoing change is with small, incremental change. Small changes are less exciting, but they’re a lot more approachable. Resolve to make every street in your city safer or stop every driver from speeding and chances are slim that you’ll get anywhere. Add radar signs to alert speeding drivers on streets with the top 5 speeding concerns, and you’re already on the way to a safer 2017.
What's Small for You?
Every person and every city has a different starting point as the New Year begins. A city with no traffic calming program in place and one with a citywide infrastructure have different steps to take to work toward big change. Whatever your big dreams, you only know how effective they are once you take small steps to get there. Whether starting with a small education initiative or installing speed humps in front of every school in the city, you need to know what’s small for you to get somewhere big.
