Every year, millions of people make new year's resolutions in the hopes of improving in one way or another. Whether it be losing weight, eating healthier, or developing some skill, we all use the beginning of the year as a marker to indicate a new beginning. But let's be honest- most people barely get to the end of January before discarding their new goals. But we all want to achieve our goals - but to actually do it requires more work than just saying it.
Here are the 5 steps to help you actually achieve your New Year's Resolution in 2020:
Set SMART Goals
In order to actually achieve your goals, you have to be intentional about it. If you set a goal like "I want to lose weight", you're bound to end up giving up on yourself by the end of January. You can use the SMART acronym to help you ensure that your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound.
For example, instead of saying "My new year's resolution is to work out more" use the acronym to make a resolution you can actually accomplish:
Specific- Work out 3 times a week
Measurable- Not only could you measure the time of your workouts, but you could also measure the duration - let's say you want to do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training.
Achievable- Is it realistic for you be able to work 3 times a week? Or is twice a week more realistic? What time of day can you realistically have the time to workout?
Relevant- your health is always relevant, so this is s definitely a relevant goal.
Time Bound- Workout Monday, Wednesday and Fridays at 9am.
Using the SMART acronym, a vague goal like "Workout more" turns into Workout 3 times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 9am, and do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training.
See how much easier that this goal now is? Since you've specified exactly what it is you want to achieve, it's so much easier to know what to do and when, as well as to know whether or not you're actually accomplishing what you want.
Check In With Your Progress
In order to keep yourself on track and actually keep your resolution past January, you have to have regular check-ins with yourself to 1) think about how you've been doing and 2)think of ways to improve to meet any goals you haven't been able to. These checking can be once a week, once a month, or once every couple months- just be sure to schedule them ahead of time.
With the above example- maybe you have a class on Friday mornings that you always do the assignments for the morning of- keeping you from your scheduled workout.
Instead, you could decide to do the work from that Friday class the night before so that you can workout in the mornings like you want to. Or maybe you've realized that getting up early just isn't working for you and you decide to work out at 7 pm instead of 9 am.
Keep Yourself Accountable
This can be done in a number of ways. My favorite way is to tell my family or friends about my goals and ask them to check up on me and ask me how I'm doing. For me, this comes pretty easily because my mom is always reminding me to workout.
Set Up Rewards For Yourself
This is probably the most fun part- after you've specified your goals, plan out rewards to treat yourself with if you've stayed on track. A reward could be literally anything you want- a new pair of sneakers, skincare or makeup product, a trip to your favorite restaurant. Choose rewards that you know will give you that extra boost of motivation when you need it the most.
Don't Give Up When You Fall Off Track
This is the most important step of them all. As cheesy as it sounds, the only way to accomplish what you want is to get up, no matter how many times you fall. It doesn't matter if you fall off track for a couple days, a couple weeks, or even a couple months- what's important is that you just keep going. There's nothing more to it than that.
