How To Stick To New Year’s Resolutions
Picking your New Year’s resolutions can be fun, but sometimes the excitement can wear off after a while when you realise how much you’re trying to achieve. If you often find yourself at a loss when it comes to actually reaching your New Year’s goals - or any other goals - it can be helpful to learn a few top do’s and don’ts.
Why New Year’s resolutions fail
First, let’s look at the things you should avoid. Half of the problem with many people’s New Year’s resolutions is that they set goals that aren’t realistic or achievable, or they’re so vague they’ve no way of measuring definitive success. Learning how to set quality New Year’s resolutions is the first step to set yourself up for success.
Other reasons why people fail to achieve their goals can vary. Some people find that their motivation wanes after the first few weeks, leaving them unwilling to put the effort in. Others find it hard to overcome setbacks, which then snowballs into the abandonment of the goal. And some people even discover that it’s their drive for perfection that leads to failure.
Sound familiar? Keep reading for some top tips on how to achieve your New Year’s resolutions.
How to keep a New Year’s resolution
Of course, not all techniques will work for everyone, so it’s a good idea to mix and match your efforts to find the best combination for you. You might even find it helpful to ask your friends and loved ones how they work to achieve their goals. Here are our favourite methods.
Use the path of least resistance
Have you ever resolved to go to the gym more, only to wake up feeling exhausted and baulk at the thought of digging out your workout gear, commuting to the gym and coming up with a meaningful exercise routine? This is a classic example of having too many steps between yourself and whatever needs to happen to tick off your goal for the day.
Choosing the path of least resistance is about making it easier for you to do your desired task than it is to stick with your usual routine. So, for our gym example, you want to make getting up and working out less of a hassle than staying in bed.
That might sound impossible, but take a moment to think about it. Imagine if you set a dozen loud, annoying alarms on your phone and put it across the room so that you have to get out of bed - and in doing so, wake yourself up a bit. Then imagine your workout gear is already set out and waiting for you because you put it there the night before. Plus, you’ve sourced an easy-to-do workout for beginners to get you started - and it’s one you can do at home, so you don’t need to brave the traffic or the gym fees until you’ve got properly into the swing of things. Suddenly, keeping up with your new gym habit is a little easier.
The same thing can be done for all sorts of other habits, whether it’s preparing your swimwear for a daily swimming exercise, setting up an automatic bank transfer into your savings, or scheduling the wifi to turn off after a certain time of day. Whatever your goal is, try to set yourself up for success by making it harder not to complete the habit.
Look at how far you’ve come
If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the enormity of the task in front of you, it can be helpful to look at the progress you’ve made and really take note of your achievements. Continuing with the idea of a resolution to get into the habit of going to the gym regularly, it can be easy to disregard the progress you’ve made if it’s not easily visible.
For instance, you might not have lost any weight in your first month of working out, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t achieved anything. If you’ve joined a new gym, just the act of going there for the first time and working out amongst strangers can be daunting, so it’s a big achievement to have done so and kept at it. And perhaps you’re already able to do more reps of a certain exercise, or you’re more willing to get up and go when it’s gym time. All of these are great signs of progress that you might miss if you’re not actively looking for them.
To make sure you realise how much progress you’re actually making, it can be helpful to keep a diary relating to your habit. That way, you can look back at how hard you found it the first time, and compare that to where you are now to see how far you’ve come.
Reward yourself
To take that acknowledgement of your achievements one step further, it’s important to reward yourself. Although working out every day for a week is an achievement, it’s not always easy to get yourself excited about it to generate enough motivation to do it again and again. However, if you can expect a reward at the end of it, that can persuade you to give it your all.
Of course, it should be said that not all rewards are created equally. You have to tailor it to your goal. For example, if you’re working to boost your savings, don’t reward yourself with a shopping spree. If you’re trying to lose weight, getting a sweet treat from the bakery probably isn’t the best idea. Instead, try to choose something unrelated to your goal, such as watching an extra episode of your favourite show or dedicating more time to your hobbies.
With these tips, achieving your resolutions should be a little easier - but remember, it’s not all about that final success. Every step you take towards your goal is progress, so even if you don’t reach the last milestone, take a look back at everything you’ve achieved and be proud of yourself.
Good Luck!