How to stick to your New Year’s Resolutions

What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

While I personally make goals all throughout the year, the New Year is the perfect time to reflect on the things you would like to change from the previous year and push yourself to do this year. Every January we set our goals for the year which we call our New Year’s Resolutions. Many people set resolutions at the beginning of the year, then 3 weeks later forget about them or throw them away. In fact, only about 8% of Americans follow-through and accomplish their goals.

Whether you’re trying to leave your dead end job, starting on those side hustles you wanted to begin, losing weight, saving more money or just finding peace and happiness in your life, sticking to your goals all year round always seems to be quite difficult.

Why is that? Let’s admit it, change is hard. Between the resistance to change, lack of motivation, and stress, most people end up not sticking to their goals.

I’ve set many goals in my life and thankful, many I have reached due to hard work and perseverance! Let’s see, I wanted to be an attorney by the age of 25, wanted my first house by age 30, and wanted to be on national TV by age 40. Did I reach them? SURE DID! I reached all of them before my set age goal…became an attorney by age 24, had my first home by age 27, and starred in a national TV episode by age 28. Every year, of course, on my New Year’s resolutions list is to maintain my weight, and in my opinion, I have done just that:)

How do I do it? I stick to my goals. I’ve decided to share some of things I do to help me pursue my goals all year round. Here are some tips that I have personally found helpful along the way to help me stick to and reach my goals. I hope it helps you to stick to your goals!

1. Reduce your list.

Lose weight, win an award, transition to a new career, travel the world, start a business, stop smoking, become financially stable, go back to school, and the list goes on? Yes, we all have tons of things we want to accomplish, but you can’t do them all at one time! First things first, reduce your list of 10+ items down to about 3 for the year. Again, reduce your list to no more than 3 items! Anything longer than that can be quite difficult to accomplish and very hard to focus on all year. If every year you stick to your 3 major goals and actually reach them each year, you’ll find yourself in a much better position 10 years from now. Just think, if you met your goal last year of losing 30 lbs, then that’s one goal that shouldn’t be on your list this year (if you maintain it, that is). You can have goals this year, focus on them, and keep adding new goals the next year. So for me, eating healthy is no longer a resolution as it’s been on my list for the past few years that it has now become a lifestyle change so I don’t have to make that a New Year’s Resolution. It’s kind of automatic embedded in my daily life now. Read Healthier Options When Ordering Fast Food.

2. Make it a Question.

I know this may sound weird, but I promise you it works. The goal is to get you to think of a solution and not simply just state a goal. So when you make a goal, don’t just state it, make it a question. Instead of stating you want to lose 50 pounds this year, ask yourself, “What do I need to do to lose 50 pounds this a year?”

[wc_fa icon=”asterisk” margin_left=”” margin_right=””][/wc_fa]Ask:

- What if I…
- How can I…
- What do I need to do to…

More examples:

How can I double my income? How can I start working from home? How do I start a blog? How do I save more money? What do I need to do to find a new job? How do I launch a business? How do I grow my social media?

Making your resolutions questions rather than statements will definitely help you get the ball rolling!

[bctt tweet=”Making your resolutions questions rather than statements will definitely help you get the ball rolling!” username=”angelgrace2″]

3. Be Realistic.

Many times people are not realistic when setting their New Year goals. For instance, you may tell yourself that you want to lose 100 lbs in THREE MONTHS!…Um, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but that’s completely unrealistic when doing it the natural way! The realistic goal would be to lose 80-100 lbs in a YEAR, not in a few months! Be careful when setting your goals because you can easily overwhelm yourself and never accomplish any of your goals. You don’t want to be radical. Think long term and make sure it is something that you can make happen realistically. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE TO STICKING TO YOUR GOALS!

Also make sure to set goals that is in your CONTROL! Let’s face it, some things are just out of your hands. For instance you may want to find a husband this year, but that goal technically is not within your power. That should definitely be something you are praying about every day but should not be on your New Year’s Resolutions list. Instead, your goal could be just to get out, socialize & network more.

So be sure to always set realistic goals that are within your power.

4. Break it Up. Set Daily and Weekly Goals.

Breaking down your resolutions into smaller steps will help you stick to them and eventually reach them. To help reach your New Year goals, set daily, weekly, and monthly goals that lead towards your overall yearly goal. For instance, in the previous example, let’s say you want to lose 100 lbs this year.

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If your REALISTIC goal is to lose 100 lbs in a YEAR [wc_fa icon=”arrow-right” margin_left=”” margin_right=””][/wc_fa]

[wc_fa icon=”arrow-right” margin_left=”” margin_right=””][/wc_fa]Then your Monthly goal would be = lose 8-10 lbs/mth

[wc_fa icon=”arrow-right” margin_left=”” margin_right=””][/wc_fa]Your Weekly goal = lose 2-3 lbs/wk

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Another example is if your goal is to save money, determine the total amount you want to save for the year. Then break it down to how much you need to save a month and how much you should be saving a week.

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For instance, if you want to save $1200 by the end of the year,

then you should be saving around $100/month and about $25/week.

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If you continue reaching your weekly & monthly goals, then you will reach your overall goals by the end of the year. So think weekly & monthly vs the whole year.

5. Write Your Goals Down In a Journal.

Grab you a journal (check out my Beast With Lashes Journal) and write down your New Year’s resolutions. Often times, when you have something concrete to reference, it will help you remember what your goals are and how close you are to achieving them. When you write your goals down, you can continually review your progress. Constantly keeping track of how you progress will give you an idea of how you are doing and give you more motivation. Write down your daily, weekly, and monthly goals and cross them out as you meet them. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and will help you keep track of your near and long-term goals.

6. Reward Yourself

Last but not least, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS reward yourself! Meeting your long term goals is truly hard work! It took so much dedication, motivation, and constant effort. Just as you give your kids a reward for making good grades, graduating from school, or winning awards, you should give yourself a much deserved reward! DO NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT REWARDING YOURSELF! YOU DESERVE IT!

There you have it! These steps have helped me each year to accomplish the goals I set. I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me!