5 Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions

Yes I know it is the end of January and most people are no longer talking about their New Year’s Resolutions or their goals for the year.  However, I have found that this is mostly because they are no longer applying themselves with the same level of passion to the goal that was there when they made the New Year’s Resolution.  If you have a habit of setting resolutions at the beginning of the year and then abandoning them a few days or weeks later, now is your chance to try something a little different. Imagine how, by just trying something a little different, the course of your life could change for the better when you follow through on your resolutions until you achieved your goals!

 

Change Your Thinking

 

With a few basic tips, it is very possible to overcome your habit of giving up on New Year's resolutions. First and foremost, avoid viewing your resolutions as something to aspire to and then neglecting them when they are seemingly less pertinent no interesting. New Year's resolutions like goal setting can be enormously self-improving and enriching if you will just find a way to maintain them and their importance to you throughout the year.

 

Here are some tips for keeping your resolutions (and other goals you set as well):

 

1. Make a commitment. In order for your resolutions and goal to be successful you must be willing to make a firm commitment to change. Believe in yourself, know deep inside that you can, and will, accomplish what you are setting out to do. When you give yourself such unwavering support from within, then you will strengthen that conviction and achieve what you seek.
   
   
   
   1. Choose New Year's resolutions and goals that you genuinely want to achieve. Avoid picking a resolution or goal that someone else wants for you that you truly do not want for yourself.  Then, make positive resolutions.  Focus on all the positive aspects of achieving the goal.
   
   
   2. Share your “give up” goals and resolutions (I’m giving up smoking, giving up drinking etc.) with everyone.  When all your true friends know what you are setting out to achieve, they can help hold you accountable.
   
   
   3. Share your “go up” goals (I’m going to be the number one salesperson, I’m going to be valedictorian) only with those that will be supportive.  If you have competition for your “go up” goal you might not want to share that goal with those you are competing against.
   
   
   4. Plan ahead.  Avoid choosing your resolutions at the last moment.  Spending more time planning and preparing for your resolution goals will exponentially improve you results.
   
   
   
   


2. Be Realistic.  Achieving your goals relies heavily on continued motivation.  By setting the bar too high you risk setting yourself up for failure, which can be profoundly de-motivating and result in a spiral in the wrong direction.
   
   
   
   1. Set your sights realistically, rather than too high. Do not get me wrong, you should give yourself a challenge, but not so much of a challenge that you cannot not believe in it and end up setting yourself up for inevitable failure.  Also, remember you can break down larger resolutions into smaller goals – then focus on that smaller more realistic step!
   
   
   2. If this year’s resolutions are mimicking last year’s (or are very similar), step back and consider why last year's resolutions faltered. Determine first what did not work last time and why.  Then you can plan accordingly to avoid a repeat performance (or lack of performance).
   
   
   
   


3. Write down your goals. When you put your resolutions into writing they become more concrete, you make them real.  Put your commitment down on paper, then display your goals where you will see them daily (actually many times a day), in that written form.  This way you will be frequently reminded of what you are striving to achieve this year.


4. Map out your goals. Just saying the words on January 1^st is only a small step.  You need to take the next and most often forgotten step.  You need to plan the how of achieving your goal.  Write out a plan for each resolution that you are going for rather than just hoping for the best.


5. Create flexible goals.  Remember everything is not going to work out just the way you hope and plan, so be flexible and create flexibility within the goals that you set.  Rigid resolutions can throw you off track when something does not go quite how you planned it (and it often will). Try to predict the obstacles you will face, and create a back-up plan for getting around over, under or through those obstacles.

 

Bottom Line

With a little bit of planning and preparation, you can keep and achieve your New Year's resolutions. Just like any goal setting process, the key is to be realistic about your goals and the challenges you may face in trying to achieve them. The more realistic and flexible you are, the more likely you'll be to achieve your goals.

 

Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann

think successfully