A New Years Resolution Everyone Can (and Should) Keep

Ready to try a Resolution that’s impossible to fail?

A New Years Resolution is meant to better oneself, whether it be in business or in life. Many times they are grand challenges — eat healthy and exercise more, quit smoking, or get a promotion — which, without specific strategies and tangible, immediate results, can result in “failure”.

Here we’d like to present to you one simple resolution that’s not only easy to keep, it encompasses many aspects of your standard resolution.

This resolution will improve your confidence and self-esteem, engage and exercise important muscles without a gym workout, decrease stress, and may even make you appear more slender!

This resolution can be completed at home, at the office, while driving — basically whenever you remember! Young or old, male or female, blue collar or white, this is a resolution for all.

 

…so what is it?

 

Simple.

Put your shoulders back.

Chin slightly up. Chest slightly out. Shoulder blades back and down.

So simple.

Now here are the benefits:

1. Improves your posture.
   Sitting at a desk all day can inevitably lead to poor posture. Unless your desk is in Notre Dame, you probably don’t want that. Correct your hunch with this simple technique!
2. Strengthens your upper back muscles.
   By pushing your shoulder blades together, you are actively working several muscles and tendons in your upper back. Strengthening these muscles can help prevent future musculoskeletal injury.
3. Correctly aligns your cervical and thoracic spines.
   The two uppermost portions of your spine are the cervical and thoracic. Keeping your spine in correct alignment at these levels can also help prevent future musculoskeletal injury, and in turn helps align the lower lumbar region.
4. Stretches your clavicle (collar bone) and sternum (chest).
   Keeping your shoulders back stretches out your collar bone, chest, ribs, and diaphragm.
5. Increases your height (or more accurately, displays your true height).
   Gain perhaps half an inch or more just by standing up straight!
6. Makes you appear more slender.
   Think about it — when you slouch, your skin folds together to create “rolls”. Correcting your posture with this technique allows your skin to stretch properly over your body, particularly in the stomach and neck areas (get rid of that double chin in photos!).
7. Makes your clothing sit better on your body.
   Designers don’t make clothing to fit slouchy mannequins, so of course your clothing won’t look its best unless you stand up straight!
8. Makes you appear more confident.
   You know those people who command attention just by walking into a room? They’re confident, yes, but have you noticed how they hold themselves? Shoulders back and a head held high exudes confidence, whether you’re feeling it or not. You will probably even notice that you’ll feel more confident just through this action alone. Hunched shoulders are an unconscious visual cue to another person that you’re somewhat closed off, so opening up your body like this will make other people feel more confident in engaging with you!

 

If your posture is reasonably bad, exercising this technique will take some effort. You will feel like you’re stretching and it will feel like work. But the ongoing results are what makes this worth it. You’re not waiting for an end date to notice a difference — it’s immediate!

You also don’t need to do it all the time. Our recommendation is to start out by only doing it when you’re around other people. Sitting at home or walking to the bathroom can be Stage II or III, but begin by working on it when you’re entering the office lunch room, or attending a 20-minute meeting with your Manager.

This Resolution is also impossible to fail. You forget to keep your shoulders back on your drive to work? No problem, do it on your drive home. Skipped an entire day? No worries! Just do it when you remember! This is a Resolution you can continue to work on for your entire life. Pretty sweet, eh?

Eventually, you won’t even need to think about it, and correct posture will simply be muscle memory!

 

So give it a try! Let us know in the comments how it’s working out for you, and be sure to mention any other benefits you’ve found!