Making a New Year’s Resolution seems to be more of a requirement these days, and oftentimes, you’ll make a resolution so big that it’s hard to keep. If setting your goal for the year feels more like a chore than a real opportunity to improve your life, we have some ways to make the resolution brainstorming process a little easier- and make your resolutions more realistic in the long run.
First Off, Be SMART
Often, resolutions are far too broad for any meaningful progress to be tracked. Making SMART goals helps to really visualize and quantify the progress you’ve made. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. So instead of resolving to ‘work out more,’ maybe plan on working out for 30 min, 5 days a week for all of January. Or instead of ‘shopping less,’ set a monthly budget of $X to be spent on clothes for 2019.
Explore New Grounds
Are you a perpetual diet-resolutioner? Or maybe come each 1/1, you promise to travel, but end up never taking off. It’s not that these aren’t good resolutions, but maybe they’ve become a little stale. Make 2019 a year of difference. Instead of focusing on your diet, take up meditation. Put your passport on the back burner and explore your hometown a little deeper. Switching your focus might just be the refresher you need.
Use The Buddy System
Let’s face it, it’s easier to flake on the plan to cook dinner for yourself than it is to ditch your plans to do so for your wife/boyfriend/grandma. Harness that devotion in your resolution making. Try “for you, I will eat 3 servings of vegetables every weekday this year.” Even go for making each other’s NYR. You’re more likely to follow through if someone you love is counting on it.
Tell Everyone… Even Yourself
Building off the last point, being vocal about your resolution can help you stick to it, both overtly and subconsciously. Telling your neighbor, your boss, your neighbor’s boss, etc not only renders you accountable for your words, but also keeps reminding your subconscious mind what the goal is. Keep that subconscious up-to-date by reciting your resolution in the mirror, in the car, in the shower, you name it. It sounds a little out there, sure, but isn’t that why you’re reading?
Track Your Progress
Anyone on a successful weight-loss journey will tell you that day-by-day, changes are invisible, but looking at pictures from even just a couple weeks ago proves that they are in fact happening. Give yourself the opportunity to relish in your success. An easy way to track progress is by creating a new calendar in your cloud designated for all things resolution. Add events when you work out, complete your to-do list, spend 20 minutes outside, whatever it is you’re working for. Then a couple months from now, you’ll be amazed at how much you’ve truly done. Don’t worry, you got this!
