Get ready, because this article’s a longer one. If you’re ready to finally learn how to keep those New Year’s resolutions of yours, then make a cup of tea, grab a snack, and get ready for a meaningful chat about goal-setting. If you just want a quick list of resolution ideas, scroll on to the bottom!
"I Love Making New Year’s Resolutions, But Am So Bad at Following Through on Them!”
It happens every year. Autumn’s colors slowly fade, the snow comes quickly, and before you know it, December’s here. With December’s arrival, people around the globe become excited at the prospect of a new beginning, including us Rexburg-ians. A chance to start again. “This year,” we tell ourselves, “I’m going to change my life.”
“I’m finally going to take off the pounds.”
“This is the year I’m finally going to learn that language.”
“I’m finally going to start saving money.”
Yet often, we fall short of these goals.
Have you ever heard of Blue Monday? It occurs on the third Monday of every January and, though not scientifically proven, some people say it’s the most depressing day of the year.
“Why?” you might ask.
There are several contributing factors, including miserable weather and our holiday cheer wearing off - but the most interesting factor (in my opinion) is that it’s supposedly by that point that the average person has already given up on their New Year’s resolutions. In fact, according to Forbes, half of Americans set aside goals for the new year, and only 8% actually achieve their resolutions.
Yikes! So you might be asking yourself “How Do I Follow Through on My Goals This Year?”
There are several steps you can take to ensure that you follow through on your goals this year. We compiled five of the most effective ways!
This won’t be a sprint. In order to execute long-lasting goals, you need to mentally prepare yourself for gradual change. Purchase a notebook specifically for your resolution journey, and start it off by taking inventory from last year. Ask yourself:
If your New Year's resolutions are important to you, you will need to change something about your current life in order to make it happen. It might mean substituting some social media time or late-night Netflix binges in favor of prioritizing your goal. Recall the times you accomplished something important to you, and use those happy feelings to motivate your progress moving forward!
Following up on our first point is the importance of making these goals attainable and clearly defined. You want your resolution(s) to be S.M.A.R.T. goals, or otherwise known as Specific + Measurable + Achievable + Realistic + Time-Bound. We’ll use weight loss as an example because it’s one of the most common resolutions people make each year!
Let’s say your goal this year is to lose weight. Just writing “lose weight” in your notebook is not enough to motivate you. What does “lose weight” mean for you? Is it losing 10 lbs or 50 lbs? Is it shaving an inch off your waist? What specifically do you want to change?
Next, you need to look at what you will specifically do in order to accomplish this goal. You decided that “lose weight” really means “lose 10 pounds before my sister’s wedding in six months.” Now, how will you accomplish that change? Will you go to the gym three times a week? Will you create a calorie deficit calculated based off of your height, weight, and activity level?
Ask yourself if you have access to the tools necessary to complete this goal. Do you have a calorie counting tool that will help you input your daily food intake? If not, do you have access to the internet so you can research the nutritional values of the foods you eat? Do you have access to a gym? If not, do you have access to running shoes and home weights?
Once you create this specific and measurable goal, assess whether or not it’s realistic. Again, let’s say you want to lose 10 lbs in six months. If our calculations are correct, you would need to consume a daily deficit value of 192 calories. Is it possible that you can cut out 200 calories from your day?
Finally, your goal has to be time-bound. But what the heck does that mean? Similar to the “specific” section, a time-bound goal has a time by which you want to make specific progress. Let’s say your goal is something that can be checked off a list once you accomplish it, like the 10 lb goal - when do you want that box checked by? When will you evaluate your progress before then?
If your goal is not something that can be checked off a list, ask yourself how often you want to contribute to that progress? For example, instead of checking off a box when you lose 10 lbs, maybe you want to learn a new language. It’s much harder to pinpoint when you’re considered “fluent,” so instead - how often will you evaluate your progress with it? Is it a weekly review every Sunday? A once-a-month check in? Some
thing else?
One surefire way to fail at your New Year’s resolutions is to not writ
e them down. In order to keep yourself accountable, find ways to remind and reward yourself in keeping those goals. Some inexpensive office supplies we recommend for this are a calendar and note-taking system.
Why this equipment? One thing that we’ve seen work in the past is a reward system, and that reward can be as simple as checking something off a list. Crossing items off a to-do list actually releases a small amount of dopamine throughout your body. Because dopamine is considered the “happiness chemical”, this acts as a reward to your brain.
So grab that notebook and write down your goals. Create a list of the resolutions you want to work on, the specific goals you want to accomplish, and when you get them done, check those bad boys off your list! One way to stay on track with your daily reminder is to hang up your calendar on a wall you pass by often, and check off each day if you contributed something tangible to your goals. It’s also a great way to visualize patterns for productivity.
“Wait, what? But Explore Rexburg, shouldn’t we tell people about our goals so they can hold us accountable?”
Having an accountability partner can be an asset to reaching your goals. However in order to really be effective, that person needs to be completing the goal with you. While our friends and family will support us in accomplishing our goals, ultimately they will not be the ones waking us up at 5:00 a.m. saying “Hey, remember how you said you’d wake up at 5:00 a.m. to run a mile every morning? Come on, get up!”
There’s research to support the idea that keeping your goals to yourself will actually make you more likely to achieve them. This is because it gives you a premature sense of accomplishment due to an increase in your intention-behavior gap.
Once you start telling people your goals, you feel like you’ve already taken a step towards accomplishing it when you actually haven’t, thus feeling proud of yourself for an action you haven’t taken. In turn, this actually demotivates you to take the next step in the process because you have already identified yourself as a person who does XYZ (your goal), and therefore don’t need to work as hard in making that dream a reality.
It’s important to review your journey to make sure you’re progressing in these accomplishments, but it’s also just as important to check in and make sure that you’re not working so hard that you burn out. Maybe in a previous New Year fervor you were so excited about a resolution that you made it your number one priority, but couldn’t keep up with it for the rest of the year because that devotion wasn’t sustainable. Check in with yourself!
Now, the 20 Achievable New Year’s Resolutions for 2020
Okay, let’s see these concepts in action. We’ll take some common New Year’s Resolutions and break them down into smaller, more concrete examples that you can easily measure for achievement. These are just some ideas to get you started - change frequencies and activity
Do You Feel Ready to Accomplish Your Goals?
Woo-hoo! We made it to the end! If you thought this article was helpful, be sure to share it with your friends and family on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest so they can learn how to crush it at their 2020 resolutions!
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