5 Simple Tricks For Keeping Your Resolutions This Year
It’s New Year’s Eve and we’re about to start a brand new year!
And I don’t know about you, but I am sooo done with 2020!
I know 2021 is still going to be a lot of the same, until we get this pandemic under control.
But there’s no reason we can’t still make it an amazing year!
So, now it’s time for those resolutions!
About 40% of all Americans will vow to change one thing or another about their lifestyle.
New Year’s resolutions usually fall under the following categories:
Weight loss
Finance
Career
Personal development
Health and diet
Fitness
Stress management
Focusing on personal relationships
Fast forward 6 months later, 60% will have completely forgotten all about their resolutions.
But carrying out your resolutions can be done. Let’s look at some tips to help you stick to them.
1 – Define your Motivation
There are 2 types of motivation:
Intrinsic – this means your motivation comes from inside. For example, you prefer jogging, going to the gym, or shopping by yourself because you like how you feel afterwards.
Extrinsic – you’re pushed forward by actions outside your personal scope. In other words, you prefer working out with your friends, and work harder when there’s a reward system in place.
Once you figure out your motivation type is, then all you have to do is put yourself in situations that make you more excited to accomplish even more.
2 – Actions speak louder than results
Deciding on a goal for the New Year is always easier said than done.
But it’s the steps you take to reach that goal that’s the tricky part.
If you want to stick to your resolutions, it’s smart to break each step down into smaller goals, if possible, to make them more manageable.
Ant then… each time you achieve a goal, reward yourself and feel proud of what you’ve accomplished.
Positive reinforcement is crucial to help guide you as you push toward your goal and commit to your responsibilities.
One way to keep everything in check is to make sure your actions are SMART:
Specific. Having a specific end result prevents you from making excuses.
Measurable. Evaluating your progress will give your motivation a boost.
Achievable. You can set daily goals as a building block to bigger goals.
Relevant. Otherwise, if it’s not relevant, why bother?
Time-bound. Goals need to have a defined end date.
But I have one caveat here!
While I do believe in SMART Goals, I also believe in setting goals that are almost impossible to reach. Goals that will make you stretch hard!
I believe if you reach father than you ever have before, you will get farther than you ever have before.
For example, if you set a goal to increase your sales 15%, that’s a good goal, and you might achieve it!
But if you set a goal to increase your sales by 50%, you might actually get to 30% or higher – achieving much more than setting that SMART goal.
So, I make my goals a combination of SMART Goals and outrageous goals. You need to decide what works for you.
The last thing I want is for you to create an outrageous goal, miss it (because you will), and then beat yourself up for it later.
SMART goals are great because they give you something to track and so you can make sure you’re doing what you need to do to get there.
3 – Be Honest with yourself
The more realistic your resolutions, the more likely you’ll see them through.
If your goal for the New Year is to exercise more, then start small. Instead of planning a 5-day workout week, go for 20 minutes a day then increase gradually.
You’ll find that, as with all goals, as soon as you start seeing what you’ve accomplished, you’ll be pumped to do even more.
But… stay away from the “all-or-nothing” approach. Doing something, even if it’s a small piece of what you’d originally planned, is much better and more productive than doing nothing at all.
Along the same lines, it’s equally important to not have too many resolutions up in the air at once.
Make a list, prioritize them, and go from there. Once you feel the first one’s in the bag, go for the second, and so on.
Focusing on one goal at a time will channel your energy and efforts there, helping you reach your target faster.
4 – Think things through
Having a positive mindset is key when progressing towards your goals, but let’s be honest; every plan is bound for failure at some point, no matter how careful you are.
Be smart and anticipate these obstacles so that when they do appear, you’ll be prepared.
For example, if you get bored when you exercise, choose upbeat workout music that’ll get you revved up.
Or you can workout at home, as you catch up on your favorite TV shows. If your motivation method is extrinsic, go to the gym with a friend.
The idea is to nip it in the bud before it becomes stronger than your willpower so that you can surmount any obstacle that comes between you and your goal.
5 – Be accountable for your actions
Accountability means you’re taking responsibility for the choices you’re making.
This may seem easy to do at work when you have a deadline and a boss reinforcing it. It may not seem as easy when you’re home alone and skip out on cooking a healthy meal, and order take-out instead.
You can enlist the help of a friend or join a support group where you’d know that you made a certain commitment to someone, even if it’s simply sending a photo of your home-cooked meal on social media.
Or you can hang a calendar on your wall with progress notes so you can keep tabs on how far you’ve gotten and what still lies ahead.
6 – Here’s a bonus Trick — Pick a word for the year
Another thing that I do as part of my new year goals, and something you might want to consider as you start a new year is pick one word that encompasses how you want to approach the New year.
For example, maybe your word for the year is Discipline. This is your focus for the year. You are saying that you want to approach your work, your relationships, your spiritual life, etc. with discipline.
You are committing to giving a full-effort to areas of your life this year and not just giving a laid back, half effort to the important things in your life. You want to be disciplined and stay on task.
On the flip side, maybe your word for the year is Relax. Perhaps you have had a number of stressful years in a row and this is not the year for you to be disciplined, but a year for you to give yourself a break. Your focus is one of finding balance and learning to relax.
It gives you a focus on how you approach all aspects of your life for this one year. It helps you determine the kind of person you want to become.
Mine this year is Intentional. I want to make sure that every decision I make this year is intentional and will help me move forward towards my goals.
A word can’t be broken, like a resolution can. It serves as a reminder, a filter. It’s who you want to be instead of what you regret.
Keeping your New Year’s resolution throughout the year isn’t easy.
But just know that you can do anything you put your mind to. I hope these 6 steps help.
Once you accomplish your first resolution, you’ll find that it’s not only beneficial, but also fun as well!
Now I’d love to hear from you.
So how about you?
What are your New Year’s Goals?
What kinds of things are you doing to make sure you keep them?
Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
I would love to hear your stories.
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