- Start Small: If you start small, it will be easier to hold to your resolutions. Setting a high goal right away makes your resolutions seem intimidating and bound for failure, but by setting smaller, progressive resolutions, your goals will seem much more achievable. It’s good to set a main goal, but by setting smaller goals along the way, you’re less likely to falter. Think of goal you can set today, not tomorrow.
- Make a Plan: If you’re someone like me, making a plan creates a sense of schedule and preparedness and in turn makes me feel more productive. By creating a consistent plan for achievement, you commit yourself to your goals in a way you couldn’t by just stating what you want. By creating a weekly (plausible) plan, you further yourself toward your goals.
- Be Specific: A common New Year’s Resolution is eating healthier, but just saying you want to eat healthier is vague and uncertain. You must be specific with your goals. Instead, saying something along the lines of, “I want to cut unhealthy sugars out of my everyday diet,” allows you to stick specifically to one aspect of your diet
- Establish a Routine: Once you have your plan in place, establish a routine. Incorporating your goals into your daily routine causes your plans to become second-nature. Your resolutions may seem impossible to stick to in the beginning, but after repeating your plan for achievement week by week, you’ll work toward your goal without overthinking it.
- Allow Room for Change…: In the beginning, it’s normal to change up your routine. Work your routine around times convenient for you. If you start the year working out Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but find these days to be the hardest to squeeze your workout in, switch to days fitting within your schedule. Nothing will be perfect, and there may still be complications along the way, but allowing yourself the easiest times for success promote, well, success.
- But Stick to the Basics: By mid-February, you should have established your routine. By this point, changing things up too much could cause you to stray. Stick to your basic routine.
- Push Beyond Typical Expectations: It can be simpler to stick to the status-quo, but go beyond your expectations. Don’t go overboard by creating an impossible routine difficult to stick to, but try something different. If you’re vowing to stop using artificial sugars, or trying to go vegetarian, find something healthier that curbs the cravings. After a while, you won’t even notice the difference.
- Have a Friend Hold You Accountable: Telling a friend (or several friends) your resolutions holds you accountable to your goals. When the temptations to fall back to your pre-resolution habits kick in, your friends will keep you from giving up. They will hold you responsible for sticking to your goals.
- Call Your Resolutions “Goals: A simple trick of the mind, but a helpful one. Resolutions have a bad rap for failing within the first week, but by calling them “goals” you set yourself up for success.
- Surround Yourself With Positive Influences: This tip is essential to pursuing your goals. If you surround yourself with negative people who only encourage you to give up, you’re more likely to throw in the towel and surrender. By surrounding yourself with people who encourage and push you, you are more motivated to succeed.
- Reward Yourself: It’s necessary to reward yourself sometimes. Rewarding yourself motivates you to keep going, to persevere. I’m not saying to eat an entire chocolate cake because you ate healthy for several months, but more like treat yourself to new shoes or that new book you really want to read (I’m looking at you, my fellow book lovers). The point is to treat yourself to something unrelated to your resolution, or else you could feel like you caved in.
- Stay Focused: It may seem easy, but staying focused on your goal can often be a challenge. Keep yourself away from the things that may tempt you to fall back into your old habits and don’t let your mind wander from your end goal.
- Keep Things Simple…: If your goal is to work out more, don’t make your resolution into a long grocery list of exercises that may overwhelm you before you’ve even started. Stick to a simple routine perfect for your level and desire. Once you feel you’re ready for something new, you can begin to challenge yourself.
- But Remember to Challenge Yourself: As I said before, challenging yourself is important (especially if your goal is health-related). Challenging yourself does not relate to every goal, but it’s an aspect keeping you from boredom. If your goal is simply to stop leaving dirty dishes in the sink, there’s not much wiggle-room: you either put the dishes in the dishwasher or not. But if you are trying to tone muscle or eat more vegetables, you have room to try new routines or experiment with new meals.
- Be Reasonable: Keep your goals reasonable. Setting an impossible goal only sets you up for potential failure. If you know for a fact your schedule permits you from running every afternoon, or you’re a diabetic (like me) and need sugar to raise dropping blood glucose levels, don’t forgo sugar. Work around complications. If you can’t run in the afternoon, run in the morning. I can chose to eat healthy sugars (apples, bananas, other fruits) to raise my blood sugar instead of sugary drinks or candy. It’s all within reason.
- Enjoy It: Don’t set a goal you won’t ultimately enjoy. Your goals will be so much harder to stick to if you won’t enjoy yourself along the way (or enjoy the end product).
- Remember Your End Goal: Always keep your end goal in mind. When you’re doubting your ability to stick to your plan, remember your end goal. It will make your struggling seem totally worthwhile.
LifestyleJan 05, 2017
17 Tips for Sticking to Your New Year's Resolutions
When you feel like quitting, use these tips to stick to your resolutions.
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