Every year, millions of people start the year with New Year’s resolutions that are intended to make their life a little better. Many people, plan to work out more, save money, and overall just get our shit together for the new year. As usual, folks get off to a great start but after a few weeks, the desire to continue to stick to your new year’s resolutions begins to fade. Listen, I don’t keep most of my resolutions past March, so there’s that. And as a result, lots of folks (myself included) lose confidence or become depressed for not accomplishing their New Year’s resolutions but it doesn’t have to end that way.
To prevent that from happening here are seven tips to help you stick to your New Year’s resolutions:
Set Realistic Goals
Having high expectations for yourself is good, provided you don’t go overboard. This is what many people are guilty of, myself included. We tell ourselves we’re gonna do a, b, c, x, y, and z, and ultimately end up not accomplishing shit. Why? Cause we set our own selves up for failure by aiming too high for impossible goals. However, realistic goals are achievable. Instead of setting a goal to read 100 books in a year, start by setting a goal to read a couple of minutes each day. No matter how busy you are, this is something that you can do if you are passionate about improving your knowledge or reading more books in general.
Starting small doesn’t mean you lack as a person. It’s actually a smart decision to figure out how much you can handle based on your dreams and your routine life. In fact, small accomplishments will help you find happiness and also motivate you to continue to work towards the next step of the resolutions.
Use The Buddy System
Having someone or a group of people to hold you accountable will encourage you to keep your resolution going all year long. No matter your resolution have someone in your corner who you can count on to cheer your milestones (big and small) and also call out if you start falling off track. Remember, this is a two-way street in which you’re pushing each other to win. Now if you come to a situation over time when your buddy isn’t being positive and happy for the strides you’ve made then it might be time to seek out someone who is. No one wants or needs a Debbie Downer or worse a hater in their corner.
Set Reminders
We have a lot of things going on at once and trying to remember everything is damn near impossible. Thankfully, technology makes it easier to get daily reminders of the things we need to do. Now you won’t forget to follow through with your goals. And don’t be afraid to set follow-up reminders especially if you know you’re the type to say, eh I’ll do that in the next 10 minutes. By the way, it’s me, I’m the type to say that, and you are too – set that extra reminder.
Keep Track of Your Progress
It really is motivating to see all the progress you’ve made so far, even if it’s only been a few weeks. It’s going to encourage you to continue on your path until you reach your goal. Remind yourself of all your hard work by posting your progress where you can see it. On your bathroom mirror, the fridge, in your journal, or on your phone. Every time you look at it it’s going to show you where you started and how far you’ve come since you began. It’s the ultimate motivational booster.
Focus On The Positives
Are you going to have setbacks on your way to achieving your goals? Yeah, everyone does. No one sets a goal and then poof in a blink of an eye they’ve achieved it. Nah. That shit takes blood, sweat, and tears which includes setbacks. But don’t focus on that. Learn from it yes, but don’t let it deter you from getting to the finish line. Focus on where you are and how much hard work it took for you to get there not the 2 steps back from a month ago. Let the positive lead you to where you wanna be.
Keep Trying Don’t Give Up
Okay, so you set a goal, and guess what? You’re starting to slack off, things aren’t going exactly as planned, or worse you failed. That’s fine, cause that’s life. But the thing you have to remember is don’t stop trying. If you got lazy shake that shit off. Get your mind and body back in the game. If a door closes in the front go around the back to see if that door is open. Also, if you have to scrap and redo your plan in order for it to work better, do it. Do you fail? Alright. Be like Aaliyah and dust that shit off and try again. Do what you gotta do (legally) to reach your end goal.
And most importantly…
Don’t Doubt Yourself
Never for a second doubt that you can’t do it, cause you can, and you WILL. I believe in YOU.
