New Year, New Goals: How to Keep Your Resolutions
New Year… new you… new goals! Right?
The new year is a great time to look back on last year and prepare for the upcoming year. People get excited about making new goals and resolutions and swear they “won’t be doing that again!”; especially when it comes to relationships. It seems that resolutions related to physical fitness are most popular. But people also resolve to make healthy choices and routines related to their own mental, emotional and/or spiritual health as well.
Sometimes it doesn’t last very long though. Strava conducted research that suggests that January 12 is the day that most people begin to give up on their new years resolutions. That’s means we are almost reaching the weekend where our best intentions and efforts will begin to wither.
So how do we keep our resolutions beyond January 12? Here are two tips to try:
1. Create good goals
Goals are really hard to attain and maintain if they’re impossible to reach to begin with. Making sure that your goal is SMART will help you keep striving towards it. If you don’t feel a resolution is manageable or you feel you won’t ever “make it” then you won’t be likely to keep trying. Make your resolution(s) S - specific. M – measurable. A - attainable. R - realistic. T - time-based.
If you are having trouble with this click here for help.
2. Pursue accountability
Two are better than one. There’s nothing like a friend telling you “you promised you would go on a run with me” to get you moving, especially if you’re a people-pleaser. It’s a lot easier to brush off exercise when it’s not scheduled or planned. Making your friends or family part of your new resolution can be beneficial. Whether they reach out to remind you about your goal or they are your ‘workout buddy’, another person can encourage us to push on (or through) when we may not feel like it. Maybe you’re not a people-pleaser like me so other people aren’t a good motivator. If that’s the case, find something else that will motivate you and use it. Maybe you’re also ‘thrifty’ like me and paying for a gym membership will encourage you to actually use the money you spent and not let it go to waste. Find your motivator or accountability and use it to support your desire to fulfill your goals for 2019.
If you feel comfortable to share some of your resolutions from this year or year’ past feel free. Also, what are some of the ways you find help you stick to your goals?