10 Smart Tips to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
Did you know that most people quit on their New Year’s resolutions before the end of January? That’s because they lose motivation, become too busy, or have their priorities shifted. As a result, only 1 in 10 people actually go through with their resolutions.
It’s been a few weeks since New Year’s Eve, and we hope 2023 is off to a good start for you. With that in mind, we want to check in and help you reach those goals.
Read on to find tips to help you regain motivation and become a person who follows through with their New Year’s resolutions.
1. Track Your Progress and Reward Yourself
Keeping track of your progress can help you stay motivated and see how far you’ve come toward reaching your goals. For example, if your goal was to walk more this year, tracking your steps can help you see the progress you’ve made. So, even though you may occasionally miss reaching your daily step goal, you can still see how much you’ve improved compared to last year.
In addition, you should reward yourself for small victories. For example, if you’ve hit your step count goal every day for two weeks, you can celebrate it by treating yourself to something you enjoy.
2. Find the Support System
Getting support from others is vital for reaching your goals, especially when you feel down and unmotivated. That’s why sharing your New Year’s resolutions with friends, family, or a support group could help you stay motivated.
The best idea is to find someone with similar interests and goals. That way, you can hold each other accountable and ensure you stay on the right track. In addition, you can celebrate each other’s victories together, keeping the motivation high.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Adjust Your Goals
Our priorities can change, and something that felt important a month ago may now be low on your priority list. So don’t be afraid to adjust your goals or even cross things off your list when that happens. You don’t want the extra pressure of not keeping your New Year’s resolution if it’s not important to you anymore.
However, if you constantly fail to meet your goals and feel bad about it, you need to reevaluate why it’s happening. Have you set the expectations too high? Or is there a common trigger you must overcome but don’t know how?
Analyze the situation and see why your approach is falling short. Don’t be afraid to switch things up and use another tactic to reach your goals.
4. Be Kind to Yourself
Holding yourself accountable is important, but you don’t want to be too hard on yourself. Remember, changing your habits isn’t easy, and it often takes a lot of time and effort. That’s why it is vital to remember that taking an occasional misstep doesn’t mean you’ll fail in the long run.
Instead of putting unnecessary pressure on yourself, you should take each day as it comes and stay positive. So, what if you failed to reach your goals yesterday? Today is a new day, and you’re going to nail it!
5. It’s Never too Late to Get Back on Track
Life often gets too busy, which makes sticking to your New Year’s resolutions almost impossible. As a result, you may fail to meet your goal for the day, week, or even month. But you shouldn’t quit altogether.
You can always start again tomorrow and get back on the right track. Remember that forming new habits takes time, and you are not trying to achieve perfection. Instead, your goal should be to make progress and be better than you were when you made those resolutions.
6. Don’t Wait for the Right Time to Start Working on Your Goals
You know how those inspirational posters say that the best time to start working on your goals is right now? Well, they are right.
People often wait until they have enough free time to act on their resolutions, but that’s not the best approach. The truth is that you’ll be busy most of the time, and a better option is to build new habits while your schedule is hectic. That way, you improve your chances of making long-lasting changes that will stick even when life gets too busy.
7. Use Technology for Better Results
Your phone can be a great ally in keeping your New Year’s resolutions. After all, there are a million apps that help you stay organized and remind you of your plans. Apps like Trello, Asana, Todoist, Reminders, or Google Calendar can help you follow through with your resolutions. So, use them to your advantage.
Set reminders and milestones, and let the technology help you stay motivated. You’ll still have to do all the hard work, but these apps will help you hold yourself accountable and continue working towards your goals.
8. Try to be Positively Realistic
Being optimistic about the outcomes is great, but there is such a thing as being too positive. In fact, some experts warn that positive thinking may hold you back from reaching your goals. For example, people who often fantasize about their future success tend to do less to achieve it. That’s because they already feel positive after daydreaming and relax afterward.
Instead, you should be positively realistic. That way, you can imagine a successful outcome, but also identify potential problems and obstacles you must overcome to reach your goal. That will help you plan and be more successful with your New Year’s resolutions.
9. Raise the Stakes
If you tend to lose motivation quickly, you may need a change of approach. Would it be any different if you were to lose something if you didn’t follow through with your resolutions? For example, putting money on the line is an excellent motivator for many people to try harder and keep their resolutions.
If this sounds like a good idea, there is a cool online platform called stickK that helps people achieve their goals. You can pledge a certain amount of money and define your goal there. You also decide what happens to the money if you fail to go through with your resolution. For example, it can go to your friend who said you couldn’t do it or a charity of your choosing.
In addition, you get into a community of people working on the same goal. That way, you can get support to help you stay on the right track.
10. Keep Making Baby Steps Toward Your Goals
Only a handful of people can do a 180 and succeed. For most of us, making too big of a change is not sustainable in the long run. For example, starting a diet that’s too restrictive or going every day to the gym when you’ve been a total of five times last year is an almost guaranteed way to fail. Instead, you should try making small steps in the right direction.
So, if your goal is to run a 5K next year, you can start walking as much as possible and then progress to jogging two to three times a week. Slowly work up your endurance, and if you keep pushing, you are guaranteed to reach your goal and smash that 5K race.
Little Inspirations to Keep You Going
As a busy parent, finding the time and energy to focus on your resolutions and goals is often challenging. However, becoming a better version of yourself and continuing to push forward can also inspire your children. So, it may not be easy, but it will definitely be worth it!
Remember to take it one day at a time and not be too hard on yourself if you slip up. Every step forward is a step closer to reaching your goals and becoming a better version of yourself.
