I know this is something no one wants to talk about this time of year but I'm going to do it anyways. This is the day where everyone attempts to follow up on their new year's resolution goals they made the night before. Most goals involve some sort of weight loss or exercise and the rest involve other bad habits that people are attempting to break. Making goals for the new year is really easy but keeping up with those goals is another story. Here are a couple tips I have found helpful in keeping up with my new year's resolutions.
1.) Make mini goals to achieve the overall goal
Most goals are not hard to achieve, but the reason people have trouble sticking with it is because they either don't know were to start or it's too overwhelming. The key to achieving your new year's goal is to create stepping stones to get to that goal. For example, if your goal is to eat better, that is a very generic goal. Instead of saying your goal is to eat better, make your overall goal to eat better and then create smaller goals like you are going to eat better by getting rid of all of the sweets in your house. Another smaller goal could also be making menu for the week of what you will be eating and preparing some of those meals. That way you don't have to worry about finding time to make the meals which makes it easier to stick wtih your goal. Making mini goals makes the the overall goal more attainable because you worry about small steps first and before you know it, you are now eating better.
2.) Give yourself reminders throughout the day.
It's hard to keep track of your goal if you are not reminding yourself about it. Just like you remind yourself to take your medication, you also should remind yourself to stay on track with your goal. This could be anything from setting reminders on your phone to leaving sticky notes around the house to keep you on track. I find the best way is to write down a to-do list for the day, that way I can cross off my list what I have accomplished for that day and it makes me feel good. It's also a good idea to not only remind yourself about what you need to do, but why you are doing it. If your goal takes a long time, you can sometimes get burned out and unmotivated to keep going. If you have ways to remind yourself of why you are trying to achieve this goal, you will keep the drive to continue even when it gets hard.
3.) Reward yourself for achieving your mini goals
Achieving a goal and sticking with it afterward is something you should be proud of! Not only have you accomplished something you might have attempted to do before but you have also made yourself better by doing it. An excellent way to keep yourself motivated to achieve other goals is to reward yourself for completing your first goal. For example, if you are trying to eat healthy and you have successfully done so for a while, it's OK to go out and treat yourself to a couple scoops of ice cream. You deserve it! Sometimes it's even better when you get your family into it as well. If you talk to your spouse about your goal, not only can they help you stay on track but having someone telling you how proud they are of what you are doing is a really good feeling!
New years is a time of new starts and second chances. Don't be afraid to come up with goals that you have tried before or are more difficult to achieve because they have an even greater reward at the end. If you can follow these tips and set your mind to it, there is nothing you can't do. Now get out there and achieve those new year resolutions!
