New Year, New You — Tips on following through your New Year's resolutions
With the New Year just days away, it’s that time again when we strive to be better and turn over a new leaf by setting goals and New Year’s resolutions. More often than not, New Year’s resolutions tend to fall through by mid-year, but this is where we come in — to aid you with setting you resolutions and most importantly, seeing it through.
Granted, 2020 has been a tough year for everyone across the globe as we continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, but this should serve as a motivator for you to look forward to the New Year with optimism and manifest positivity.
Pick Concrete, Achievable Goals
If changing your lifestyle is your resolution, don’t set yourself up for failure by changing it all at once. Instead, start by picking one, concrete area of your lifestyle to change. If you’re successful with the first change, you can go ahead and make another change after a month or so. Making small consecutive changes is a more realistic way of turning over a new at the end of the year.
Choosing a concrete, achievable goal gives you the opportunity to plan your method of executing your goal throughout the year. What you don’t want to do is pick a resolution that is bound to fail like running a marathon when you haven’t jogged or ran since graduating high school. Instead, set a goal to walk every day and once you’ve got that habit down, graduate to running in short bursts and eventually run constantly. This way, you will be ready for a marathon at the end of the year.
Take Baby Steps
Going on the extreme is a common reason why many New Year’s resolutions like severely cutting down calories, overdoing it at the gym or radically changing your behaviours tend to fail. Instead of a dramatic change, take baby steps which make it easier to stick to your new habits and help you see it through.
Anticipate Problems
Problems are inevitable; try to anticipate the problems you could face and list down the possible solutions so that when you do face a challenge, you’re ready to tackle it.
Learn From Failures
Another tip to adhering by your New Year’s resolutions is to avoid repeating the same resolution every year. If you do end up choosing the same resolution, analyse the past results to determine an effective strategy and the impediments that kept you from achieving your resolutions. By changing your approach, you are likely to see real results this new year.
Remember That Change Is a Process
They say it takes 18 to 254 days to develop a new habit so how can you expect to change them in mere days or weeks? It may take you longer than you would like to achieve your goals but remember that change is a process and once you have made the commitment to change a behavior, it is something that you will continue to polish for the rest of your life.
Get Support From Your Friends and Family
Having a solid support system can help you stay motivated in achieving any resolution. If taking care of your health and being active is your goal, get a buddy who shares the same goal as you to go through the journey with you.
Don't Let Small Setbacks Demotivate You
Life isn’t a bed of roses and so, encountering a setback is only art of the process. Unfortunately, this is one of the most common reasons why people give up on their New Year's resolutions. If you find yourself suddenly relapsing into old habits, don’t take it as a failure, rather, learn from it and keep moving forward. If you journal, you might find it helpful to note information about when the relapse occurred and what could be the trigger factors. By comprehending the challenges you face, you will be better prepared to deal with them in the future.
Plan Rewards
To keep yourself motivated, give yourself small rewards during the hardest first days. After that, you can probably reward yourself once a week with a magazine, a call to a supportive friend, a siesta, a movie binge or whatever your vices may be. Eventually, the rewards can be monthly and towards the final leg of the journey you can pick an anniversary reward for keeping to your resolution — you will have earned it.