New Years – that special time of the year where everyone is looking to make a fresh start, make a change, turn over a new leaf and commit to a New Year’s Resolution. According to Statistic Brain, the top 3 new year resolutions in the past year were to:
- lose weight
- life/self-improvement
- Better financial decisions
Unfortunately, only 9% of people actually stayed true to their New Year resolutions – a statistic that probably leaves you a little deflated! Don’t worry, we’ve got 7 tips to help you stick and commit to your best New Year resolution; whatever it may be!
1. Be Specific
‘Lose weight’, ‘save more money’, ‘make more friends’ – these are all fantastic goals but have a fatal flaw, they’re so vague! What exactly do you mean by wanting to lose weight or save more money?
By being specific, you end up with a much clearer final destination, and you’ll also be able to come up with a more specific plan of attack! So instead of simply saying that you will lose weight, say that you’ll reach, for example, 75kg by April. Be specific!
2. Break it Down
Now that you’ve got a specific goal in mind, you should break that goal down into small, achievable steps! Breaking your goal down makes achieving it less daunting and makes building discipline and good habits much easier! Let’s break down the resolution of losing weight as an example.
You can break it down by having small goals such as ‘going to the gym every other day’, ‘don’t eat more than 1200 calories a day’ or ‘walk half a kilometer every day’. These smaller goals are so much more achievable and it all goes towards your final goal!
3. Write Down Your Goals
Specific goal? Check. Smaller, achievable goals? Check. Time to write them down! Writing them down reinforces it in your brain, almost like you’re branding your own brain with your goal!
If you can write them down somewhere you’ll be seeing it often, even better! Good examples can include on a whiteboard in your room, a post-it note on your desk, or changing your phone wallpaper to an image with your goals on it!
4. Track Progress
Tracking your progress is a fantastic way to keep you on the right path towards your final goal. Grab a notebook or keep tabs on your phone and simply keep track of how you’re doing! How much money did you spend today? Track it. How many squat reps did you do this session? Track it. How many hours did you sleep today? Track it!
5. Don’t Beat Yourself Up
Nobody is perfect and nobody expects you to have a flawless run towards your best New Year Resolution. You’ll mess up here and there, but the important thing is you bounce back! If you failed to take time to read today, or you weren’t able to call your parents this week, it’s okay.
Tell yourself it’s okay, endeavour to get back on track and make sure your first setback doesn’t turn into consecutive ones!
6. Discipline over Motivation
Motivation is fantastic in helping you stick to your best New Year’s resolution but unfortunately, it’s quite fleeting – sometimes you’ll wake up not feeling motivated, or you’ll experience something in your day that leaves you unmotivated. Instead of relying on motivation, rely on discipline, which will help you achieve your goals no matter how you’re feeling!
How do you make yourself discipline? By building good habits – starting as small as you can manage, and then gathering momentum and training your mind to continue these habits. For example, looking to save money? Skip the morning coffee for one day of your week. Continue this for a month, then turn into skipping it for two-three days, and build the habit until it’s ingrained into your routine!
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7. Celebrate Small Successes
Our final tip in sticking to your best new year’s resolution? Treat yourself along the way! There’s no better way to keep you on track than celebrating your milestones no matter how small they are!
This, of course, doesn’t mean you celebrate counterintuitively to your goal (treating yourself with a large pizza after a running 1 kilometer), but be happy that you’re making progress!
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