New Year's Resolution Races - TestYourself Picks The Winners and The Losers

TestYourself releases results from its Success Likelihood Test and offers advice to make those resolution last past January.

MONTREAL, CANADA (MARKETWIRE) -- January 3, 2011

TestYourself.psychtests.com, one of the web's foremost sources of personality, career, and IQ assessments, unveils some interesting results of their popular Success Likelihood Test. They also provide helpful suggestions on how to make New Year's resolution stick.

You stare in the mirror at your stuffed turkey belly, Christmas ham thighs, and tinsel-like arm fat. "That's it!" you declare. "This coming new year, I'm getting a gym membership, I'm working out five times a week, and I'm losing all this weight. Just you wait and see!" You point vehemently at your reflection, who you could have sworn rolled its eyes, as if to say, "In your dreams pudgy." And as with most New Year's resolutions, you start off full steam ahead. But before long, perhaps a month or two, the five days turns to three, then two, and then an IOU to the widening load you call your butt, as you sit it in front of the TV with a bag of chips on your lap. What gives?

TestYourself helps shed some light, thanks to data collected from over 16, 000 people for their Success Likelihood Test. Turns out, many of us sabotage ourselves when it comes to achieving success. "When we compared test-takers based on what they consider their potential for success as compared to others, we received some very eye-opening results," points out Dr. Jerabek, president of the company. "Those who rate themselves as having less potential for success had a lower level of drive (score of 51 for low potentials, 75 for high potentials on a scale from 0-100), had much lower self-esteem (score of 38 for low potentials, 67 for high potentials), and did not feel that they had a great deal of control over how successful they could be, otherwise known as "locus of control" (score of 54 for low potentials, 71 for high potentials). TestYourself's data also show that those who view their potential for success as low also had two major fears: a fear of failure and, oddly enough, a fear of success.

"People with a fear of success are those who worry that they won't be able to sustain it, or that they don't deserve it," explains Dr. Jerabek. ". Our data show that people who suffer from a fear of success are plagued by self-doubt, are uncomfortable with competition, and are fearful of having their work criticized, which is more likely to happen the more attention you receive, as we often see with professional athletes or celebrities who become overnight sensations. Don't forget, success has its pressures. That's why a lot of people who lose tons of weight, for example, often end up packing it back on."

So when it comes to setting and keeping those ever-elusive New Year's resolutions, what can people do to increase their chances of success? TestYourself offers some tips:

• Remember, success comes from within. Lack of confidence in your abilities can keep you from attaining success. Perhaps you attribute past successes to luck, being at the right place at the right time, or other things outside your control. If you believe that you don't have what it takes to sustain success or live up to the increased expectations, chances are you'll need to work on your view of yourself.
• Don't beat yourself up for falling off the wagon. The true failure would be to quit after hitting the first bump in the road to success. Don't take your failures so hard; rather, see them as an opportunity to learn and grow. You have to own your successes and your failures. Remember that you can't possibly succeed all the time or excel in absolutely everything the first time out.
• Find a supportive social network. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and are ambitious themselves. They can be a great source of inspiration when you start to lose faith in yourself. Setting out to accomplish major goals can be a little scary, but it will likely be a lot less terrifying when you have good friends supporting you.
• Make a list of your accomplishments. Include anything that made you feel good about yourself, without thinking about whether it is technically an accomplishment or not. (Your ability to relate to children, your chess talent, the amazing cookies you make, the great short story you wrote, etc.). Refer to it whenever you need a motivational or self-esteem boost.
• Don't compare yourself to others. You may look at others and think they have something you don't, but the fact is they may be looking at you and thinking the very same thing. Someone may be better than you are at certain things, but you may excel at other tasks. Judge yourself by your own standards, for you are unique!
• Eliminate cognitive "shortcuts". Cognitive shortcuts are the modes of thinking that you are stuck in (e.g. "I don't have the talent to be successful."). These negative thoughts are surefire success killers. In short, you are single-handedly extinguishing your hopes and dreams by convincing yourself of these ridiculous judgments that have no bearing on reality. What happens is that you fulfill your own prophecy by telling the world (in indirect ways) that you are indeed useless and undeserving of success. The solution is to learn to rewire your brain. Become aware of your negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts. By doing this, you are establishing your personal list of productive and positive beliefs.
• Develop a plan of action. Ok, so you have a goal in mind. What next? Unfortunately, you can't just sit there and hope the road to success will automatically unfold before you like a yellow brick road. You need to create a battle plan to tackle a challenge.
• Break goals into smaller, more manageable chunks. For example, strive to go to the gym twice a week, and then increase that when you start feeling more motivated.
• Set flexible deadlines. Give yourself a reasonable date to complete your goal, so you have a set time in mind. Of course, you have to be flexible - you can't predict how long everything will take - but try to stick to this schedule as closely as possible.
• Remind yourself of your goals regularly. Post reminders around the house, make a schedule to hang on the wall, have friends regularly ask you about it, give yourself regular rewards when you reach certain milestones...whatever it takes!

Those who wish to take the Success Likelihood Test can go to https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/2138

About TestYourself.psychtests.com
TestYourself.psychtests.com is a subsidiary of PsychTests AIM Inc. TestYourself.psychtests.com is a site that creates an interactive venue for self-exploration with a healthy dose of fun. The site offers a full range of professional-quality, scientifically-validated psychological assessments that empower people to grow and reach their real potential through insightful feedback and detailed, custom-tailored analysis.

About Psychtests AIM Inc.
Psychtests originally appeared on the internet scene in 1997. Since its inception, it has become a pre-eminent provider of psychological assessment products and services to human resource personnel, therapists, academics, researchers and a host of other professionals around the world. Psychtests staff is comprised of a dedicated team of psychologists, test developers, researchers, statisticians, writers, and artificial intelligence experts. Psychtests was founded and is led by Dr. Ilona Jerabek, a specialist in the field of psychometric assessments and Vrat Jerabek Ph. D., a researcher and authority in the field of artificial intelligence.

Contact:
Psychtests AIM Inc.
Ilona Jerabek, Ph.D., President
Tel: 1-888-855-6975
ilona@psychtests.com