Are you making a new year’s resolution(s)? Have you failed to keep your new year’s resolution before?
Need Help Keep Your New Year’s Resolution?
According to a survey done by Statista Global Consumer, to live a healthier life is once again top of mind for Americans making resolutions for 2023. Vowing to exercise more, eat healthier and to lose weight were the top 3 New Year’s resolutions in the U.S. this year.
The reality is one third of resolutioners don’t make it past the end of January, according to the time management firm FranklinCovey,
A lot of these resolutions fail may be because of one of three main reasons:
- It’s a resolution created based on what someone else (or society) is telling you to change.
- It’s too vague.
- You don’t have a realistic plan for achieving your resolution.
If you are struggling to keep you new year’s resolution(s), we’d recommend these 5 tips for you.
5 Tips to Help Keep Your New Year’s Resolution(s)
Your resolution goals should be SMART. That’s an acronym coined in the journal Management Review in 1981 for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.
- Specific. Your resolution should be clear. “Making a concrete goal is really important rather than just vaguely saying ‘I want to lose weight.’ You need to set up a goal: How much weight do you want to lose and at what time interval?” said Katherine L. Milkman, an associate professor of operations information and decisions at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “Five pounds in the next two months — that’s going to be more effective.”
- Measurable. This may seem obvious if your goal is a fitness or weight loss one, but it’s also important if you’re trying to cut back on something, too. For instance, you want to reduce spending time on social media, start logging your time or setting up a timer before you start browsing your social media. Logging progress into a journal or making notes on your phone or in an app designed to help you track behaviors can reinforce the progress, no matter what your resolution may be.
- Achievable. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have big ambitious goals. But trying to take too big a step too fast can leave you frustrated, which could affect other areas of your life to the point that your resolution takes over your life. For example, resolving to save enough money to retire in five years when you’re 30 years old is probably not quite realistic. Try saving an extra $100 a month may be. (And if that’s easy, you can slide that number up to an extra $200, $300 or $400 a month).
- Relevant. Ask yourself, does this a goal really matter to you, and are you making it for the right reasons? If you do it out of the sense of self-hate or remorse or a strong passion in that moment, it doesn’t usually last long. If you build up a process where you’re thinking harder about what’s good for you, you’re changing the structure of your life.
- Time-bound. Similar to “achievable,” the timeline toward reaching your goal should be realistic, too. It means that giving yourself time to do it with lots of smaller intermediate goals set up along the way. Focus on the small wins so you can make gradual progress and achieve your long term goal.