6 hot tips to ensure you stick to your New Year's Resolution!
"New Year, New Me!"
"I'm going to exercise more this year!"
"I'm going to be nicer to people this year!"
These are just a few of the most common phrases people say leading up to the New Year when they are talking about making a New Year Resolution. They might say it's because their friend is doing it or because they saw it on social media. What people don't do when making a resolution, is having a plan in place. They don't have a compelling reason; if it really was an important reason, why wouldn't they start it right then and there? Why would they wait until the New Year? How are they going to do it? They walk into the New Year just expecting things to change without planning to change
Statistics show that 60% of people make a New Year's resolution. Out of those people, 67% make 3 or more resolutions, and the interesting thing is, only 8% of people stick to their resolutions and manage to complete them.
Below are six hot tips to help you understand; how to make a New Year Resolution; why you are making one; how to stick to them, and how to give yourself a successful result while enjoying the journey.
1. Reason: What is the reason you are making a resolution?
You must have a compelling and meaningful reason as to why you want to achieve what you want to achieve. The more your goal means to you, the more likely you are to stick to it. The reason must be for you, it is not going to work if you're doing something purely because other people are, or you saw it on social media.
2. Goal: What is your resolution?
Setting the goal itself is a key component to any resolution. The goal needs to be a smart goal. None of this "I want to get fitter" or "I want to save more money". Set a specific goal that you know can be attained. Specify a fitness goal, E.G. a half marathon by October or set a specific savings goal. "I want to have $41,000 saved by November 31st. setting specific goals makes it so much easier to plan it out and follow your progress.
3. Plan: Create a step by step plan; how are you going to achieve your resolution by a certain date?
Alan Lakein once said "failing to plan is planning to fail"
This can be very helpful as planning something out makes it a lot easier to stick to. Plan out what you're going to do to start with. (E.g. open a savings account to start saving money or join a gym with a friend to start your new fitness journey.) Account for setbacks, it is normal. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going.
4. Tracking: Make sure you are keeping track of your progress through your journey.
Seeing the achievements, you have made gives you the extra drive you need to keep pushing towards your overall big goal. E.G. if your goal is weight loss, a good way to track it is to keep a diary of every time you weigh yourself. It also helps you reflect on how far you have come each time you reach a new milestone and reminds you why you started.
5. Accountability: How do you make yourself accountable for your goals?
'We all get by with a little help from our friends' - The Beatles.
Talking to the people that you see on a regular basis or those people closest to you can be very beneficial. The more you talk to them and get them involved to help you, the easier it is going to be for you to stick to your resolution. You will not only want to stick to your goals for yourself, but now that your friends know what you are doing, you will want to show the results to them as well.
6. Stay positive: Everyone has bad days but don't let that bad day turn into a bad week.
92% of people who make New Year's Resolutions don't stick to them. Most of the time this is because they find it hard or they have a few setbacks, and think to themselves "what's the point?!", and then stop. It is important to know, that in any journey, there will be hard times and hard days. It is how you react to those hard times and days that matters. Think back to how far you've come; think of all the work you've put in. Remember there are plenty of days to continue to work and strive for success. Learn from it and move on; focus on how you can improve for the next day or next week. Think back to before you started and you wished you were here, if you stop now you will go back to where you started.
Follow these 6 simple steps and your New Year's Resolution will be a lot easier to stick to!
"A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true."
- Greg s. Reid
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
