Lets face it -- almost all New Year's resolutions are forgotten about or abandoned by the beginning of February. It may be because too many unexpected changes interfered with your life or maybe you just set the bar too high and said, "Oh well, not this year." Luckily, there are many easy tricks you can follow to help you succeed in completing your resolution throughout the entire year, not just the first month. These are some of the most popular resolutions each year and how to make them last 365 days.
1. Exercise More
People think this means they have to join an expensive gym and buy expensive workout clothes and maybe even hire a personal trainer. In order to make “exercise more” last for 365 days, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go for a long walk once a day. While watching TV do sit-ups or push-ups. It’s simple and the difference will show.
2. No More Junk Food
This is another popular New Year's resolution that doesn’t often get followed for the entire year. Eating absolutely no junk food is very hard for most people, but keeping a food journal helps to limit what you eat. If you don’t want to write it down, don’t eat it.
3. Read More
All of our modern technology makes picking up a book and getting immersed in its pages much more difficult than it used to be. To make this resolution succeed throughout the year, set aside one hour a day (which isn’t a lot) to put your phone aside and just read a good book for a bit.
4. Try Something New
A lot of people decide that they don’t often get out of their shells and trying something new will be a great resolution. Of course, the chance of it happening doesn’t always work out. In order to help yourself succeed, realize that it doesn’t have to be anything crazy. Trying one new thing a week or a month doesn’t have to be skydiving. It could be just trying a new food or new TV show.
5. Cut Down On Screen Time
Again, this is hard with how involved technology has become in our life. However, cutting down to a half hour of Netflix each day or an hour of computer time can a day can greatly increase the chances of making this resolution a normal, everyday thing.
6. Consume Less Caffeine
If you are like me, cutting down on caffeine may sound like a death sentence. However, if you have decided it’s necessary for 2016 it’s not as hard as it sounds. Instead of getting coffee every time you are tired, try cold water or just an apple. Both of those products have been known to wake you up more than a caffeine product.
7. Spend Less Money
As a broke college kid, this isn’t a problem for me. Can’t spend what you don’t have, right? However, this is a popular resolution for many people. In order to make this happen, set a weekly or monthly budget. It’s simple and you will end up spending only what you absolutely have to.
8. Drink Less
Another popular yet hard to follow New Year’s resolution. Being away at school, it’s easy to forget you had planned on not drinking as much. Work fundraisers and other social functions like that may also hinder your original resolution. However, in order to follow it as well as you can in 2016, two things will be very helpful. You can always offer to be the designated driver so you don’t drink, or you don’t have to get drunk. If you want to go out and have a good time, try just having one or two drinks and you’ll still have a great time.
9. Spend time with family
This one is hard to follow because people get so caught up in their own lives and people live all over the world. Luckily for us, our technology comes in handy this time. Having a once a week Skype or FaceTime session with your family if you go to school out of state or live far away can make all the difference in the world and help you stay in contact all throughout 2016.
10. Travel
This resolution is harder to follow because of work and school schedules, finances, and other random conflicts that might come up. To make this happen in 2016, realize that you don’t have to travel anywhere crazy or far. Traveling could mean to a different part of your home state you have never been, or maybe somewhere in the country. It’s less expensive, easier to plan, and easier to follow through with.
11. Fixing A Relationship
It’s safe to say that most people have a rocky, unstable, or just bad relationship with someone they were once close with. During the new year, many people vow to try and fix whatever may be broken. Unfortunately, most people forget or decide against it. To follow through with resolution, start early. As soon as the new year rolls around, call up that person (or people) and try to make amends. From there, spend the year catching up or working to make it even better if things don’t go well the first time. The key to this resolution is to start early and swallow your pride. Even if things don’t work out, you won’t have to wonder “what if?”
