Learn how to make and keep a New Years Resolution that will help make this year a better and more successful year for you.
New Year New you!
Every year we start the same way. We make a bunch of promises to ourselves that this is the year everything will be different. This is the year I lose weight, this year I will start exercising, this year I am going to change, and the list goes on.
Everything goes great for a few weeks and then, just like every other year, we stop doing whatever it was we were going to do to make this our best year yet! Why?!? Maybe if we have a better idea of how to set a realistic New Year Resolution we will have a better understanding of why we have not kept them in the past.
Making a New Years Resolution
Be Realistic
I think this is where most resolutions fail. We start with some huge goal that, although realistic over time, seems so unattainable at the beginning that we quit trying before we really have a chance to start. If weight loss is a goal you should start by removing one thing from your diet that you know is a big hindrance to your weight loss success. For example, if soda is something you want to cut out of your diet, start with 1 less soda per day for one week, then two the next week. Continue this trend each week until you are down to none. It is less shocking to you and you will more likely stick to this goal. You can do this with any goal. Start with baby steps until the goal is reached.
Outline You New Years Resolution
Having an outline of goals you want to achieve can help you reach them. Once you have reached the first small goal you made you should have a step by step plan to achieve the next goal, and the next, and by the end of the year you will have a better chance at having reached your initial (which seemed unattainable at first) New Years Resolution.
Leave your outline somewhere that you will see it several times a day with a picture of what this goal will do for you in the end. Visual reminders of why are so important to keeping yourself focused on the end goal.
Keep Track of Progress
Setting up a goal chart with each step being a mark in progress can help you see that the bigger goal is getting closer. As you get closer to your goal, you may want to add to the progress chart to go above and beyond the initial goal or have a new chart with the next stage in your self betterment.
Rewards
Rewards are great motivators when it comes to achieving goals. Just make sure the reward is not something that will hinder your progress. If losing weight is your goal do not make the reward food. You can reward yourself with new clothes, a spa treatment, etc. If your goal is to save more money, then do not make your reward monetary based. The reward needs to encourage the goal not make your progress take a step back.
Be easy on yourself
Time to set your New Year’s Resolution
like the present, and it is presently the New Year. Once you have a goal set that you want to achieve start at that moment. Do not wait a week, or beginning of the month. The further you get from the emotions of starting towards a goal the less likely you are to start. So start today!
If you are not sure where to start feel free to ask for help in the comments, stop on by, or reach out via Facebook or Instagram!
