Finding and Sticking with your New Years Resolutions

This New Year! This year I’m going to….

We’ve all been here, fresh faced, motivated to finally achieve all of our new goals we’ve set for ourselves as we enter a new year. But how often do you actually stick with your goals? Making a goal is the easy part, but the road to achieving our goals is what throws us off in going out there and being successful in our endeavors. Have no fear though, as their are several tips and strategies you can use to help keep you on track, and finally make 2018 the year where you go through with your new years resolutions.

A big problem many people have with making their new year resolutions is that they are simply not practical with themselves. Setting a goal that is completely unrealistic will do you no good, and in the end, you will burn yourself out in pursuit of it. While it should be said that it isn’t a bad thing to shoot for the stars and have hopes and dreams, it can be detrimental to your success of achieving your goals. With that being said, the best thing you can do when pursuing your new years resolutions is to keep your abilities in mind when pursuing your goals. Setting goals in small increments is a great way to keep you on track, and allows you to digest what needs to be done more easily.

When you are setting your goals, it is good to be practical, and it also suits you to make your goals as specific as possible. Vague new years resolutions give you no clear path on how to achieve them. For example, if your resolution is to workout more, it gives no specificity to it, therefore has no clear way of determining if you have achieved it. A better goal would be: I want to hit the gym at least 4 times every week this year. That way, the parameters of the goal is clear, and it is easy to measure the success of it. Charles Duhigg, the New York Times bestselling author, states in his book “The Power of Habit” that, “Much more important than setting a far off goal, like running a marathon, is to set an immediate plan that you can start right away”. By setting a clear goal, this will help you get started right away, rather than following the age-old attitude of, “Oh, i’ll start once the weekend is over”. 

Once your specific resolution has been set, the next best thing you can do to help you achieve it is to seek out support. Going at something alone may be beneficial for some, but in the long run, it can be worth it to find some foundation of support to keep you in check during your journey. By having a solid support system, it can help keep you in check and be a valuable motivational system to succeed in 2018. There are all kinds of support systems out there that can fit with practically any sort of goal, be it weight-loss, quitting smoking, reading more, or anything else. Being able to talk about your experiences, or even learn a few tricks can be critical parts that can help you achieve that resolution.

Finally, if you slip up or make some mistakes along the way, don’t beat yourself up! If the road to success was easy, then all those other new years resolutions you’ve since left in the dust would have been achieved already. Whatever setbacks you may encounter shouldn’t be seen as failures, but rather as learning experiences that can put your 5-steps ahead as you move forward. Don’t get too down, and always remember, you’re only human.