3 Ways to Succeed With Your New Year’s Resolutions
The New Year is just around the corner, and many of us will make a New Year’s resolution. Yours may be to get fitter, to quit smoking, to be more organized, or to spend less, just to name a few popular options. Resolutions differ from person to person, but sticking to them is the part that everyone struggles with. Only about 8-10% of people actually see their resolutions through. This means almost 90% fail, which is kind of depressing if you think about it.
So, what can you do? What is the key to a successful New Year’s resolution? We’re glad you asked!
1. Reframe Your Resolutions as Goals
Many resolutions are unrealistic, idealistic, and even far-fetched. We usually don’t come up with solid strategies to succeed. For instance, someone who resolves to quit smoking cannot do so instantly. What they could do, instead, would be to replace their resolution to quit smoking with more achievable goals. They might start by reducing the number of cigarettes per day by 20% in the first month, 40% in the second month, 60% in the third month, and so on. This is a much more realistic method of creating change.
2. Find Ways to Maintain Motivation
Working towards a goal is hard work. Most people give up on their resolutions because the motivation fades away, and the hard work doesn’t seem to be worth it. The challenge here is to keep the motivation alive. This can be done by pre-planning a reward for yourself for each goal that you successfully complete. Buy yourself something nice, treat yourself to some good food, get that tattoo you’ve always wanted, and so on, but only when you reach those goals.
Other ideas for maintaining motivation include keeping a list of ways that achieving your goal will help you, tracking your progress, and acknowledging the number of days you’ve been able to successfully work towards your goal by informing friends and family about your progress.
3. Don’t Get Discouraged
Creating a significant change in your life takes tons of patience. You might fall and go back to your old habits from time to time, but it’s important to remember that any perceived failure is only a temporary setback. It’s not a reason to completely give up on your resolution as so many people do. You can always create new goals and start over. In fact, you can do with new information that you’ve learned from the setback. Remember that you made your resolution for a reason, and succeeding will change your life for the better.
Change can be life-altering, and that is often a very good thing. So make a resolution this year, turn it into a goal, and tackle it head-on. Here’s to your success!
