Habits. Resolutions. Goals. Being Better. Having the best year ever!

Words that inspire us to be amazing.

However, statistically the odds are not in our favor. Most people do not set a resolution, and those that do, normally do not keep them. If you are one of the few who do, Congratulations, keep on killing it! If you are one of the other 97%, I would like to introduce you to why we cannot keep those resolutions. This is because of “buffering.”

This is not the buffering related to technology. This “Buffer” preys on your health, wealth, relationships, and all the important stuff. Buffering is the activity we do when we feel emotional about something, when we are procrastinating or avoiding, when we are bored, or during any time we should be addressing another issue. We mindlessly “buffer” out of habit.

Examples of “Buffering” - binge watching Netflix to numb our problems, eating when we are emotional, shopping when we have feelings we don’t want to address, drinking or gambling to escape reality, scrolling through social media when we are bored, etc. We all have our own form of “buffering.”

The goal is to recognize “your buffer.” It can be more than one. I binge watch Netflix at night instead of going to sleep when things are on my mind, then causing me to not get up and go exercise because I am tired. I snack on unhealthy food when I am bored. I make meaningless financial decisions when I do not have my spending plan under control.

These activities are keeping us from the habits, resolutions, and goals that we want to accomplish. Being able to recognize this behavior is the first step to actually replacing the buffering with something better.

I challenge you to begin to recognize “your buffer.” For now, just sit and do not complete the “buffer” activity. This process will allow you to begin to recognize all your behaviors and how these behaviors are done out of habit. If you did not set a resolution, just start recognizing when you buffer. If you did, use this to help replace “your buffer” with something better.

I sat a resolution to exercise more. To help I am adding a nighttime hot tea called “sleepytime” to my routine to help me sleep. There are so many healthy things we can do in place of our unhealthy buffering habits. Do not make it too complicated, start small and pick one something easy.

Jane Springer introduced me to the term “buffering.” For those interested in learning more, Jane and I had a great introductory conversation on buffering during Strong Roots Podcast Episode 10. We will also be continuing the conversation on ways to address our buffering during upcoming episodes.