Keeping New Year’s Resolutions – 13 Tips That Really Work!

Every year around New Year’s eve, countless people set New Year’s resolutions. Many try but most will fail. So I wondered what are some of the best tips for keeping New Year’s Resolutions?

Here’s what I discovered after digging in:

The secret to keeping New Year’s resolutions is to set a small number of specific goals. Too many goals & it’s easy to get overwhelmed & give up. Too vague and it’s hard to measure if you succeeded. Map out exactly what you want to do, be realistic, and then break that down to a series of achievable baby steps.

But there’s a lot more to know about keeping New Year’s resolutions! So let’s keep going.

The sad reality is that many will fail to stick to their resolutions for more than a couple of weeks.

Why?

The problem is a combination of setting unrealistic goals, having too many goals and not having a system in place to track our progress so we can stay motivated to get to the finish line.

We all have goals and dreams.

Your goals could be as simple as losing 5 lbs, quit smoking or find an outlet to help manage stress.

But they could be loftier goals too.

In this post, we’re going to look at keeping New Year’s resolutions. Setting those resolutions in a realistic way that will make them much more achievable.

You can achieve your goals and these keeping New Year’s resolutions tips can help you do it!

How many people keep their New Year’s resolutions?

According to National Institutes of Health, only a pitiful 19% of people will stick to their New Year’s resolutions long term. They go on to say that initially, almost 80% make it through the first week. Then it tapers off sharply.

Why do so many fail in keeping New Year’s resolutions after just a few weeks or months?  Especially when a small percentage do stick to them and rock their life to new heights!

What is about these select few that enable them to meet or exceed their goals?  Are they doing something differently? What keeping New Year’s resolutions tips do they know that we don’t?

Are they just smarter, better disciplined or do they have better resolve?

No; you too can meet your New Year’s Resolutions!

For many of us, the New Year brings with it an opportunity for a fresh start. Making a list of New Year’s Resolutions can be cathartic and empowering, but sticking with them past January is easier said than done. here’s how to keep them past January.https://t.co/mEaBG76p5q pic.twitter.com/N3BekuM0kP

— Vavista (@VavistaUK) January 25, 2019

First things first! There are a few key keeping New Year’s resolutions tips you need to follow to not only set realistic resolutions but make your goals achievable so you can stick to them long term!

Why do people make New Year’s resolutions?

Ultimately we all want to Improve Our Lives.

But another part of the mentality is we think we’re supposed to make New Year’s resolutions.

It also comes into play that we’re naturally envious creatures. We see The Jones with better bodies or nicer things and we want those things too.

Being overly ambitious, we tend to set lofty goals and we set a LOT of them.

Thus we’re doomed from the start!  We think quantity over quality and don’t give much thought to the achievability.

But with just a few key tips, most could really go far in keeping New Year’s resolutions.

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What are the most common New Year’s resolutions?

As you can guess, the most sought-after of the keeping New Year’s resolutions tips are those around health, fitness, and weight loss. That’s according to research by the Nielsen firm.

Spending habits and better money management rank at number 3.

Then going down the list we also have “spend more time with family” and “enjoying life to the fullest”. In truth, with the right New Year’s resolution tips ANY of those things could easily be achieved!

How to choose your New Year’s Resolutions

So I’ve talked a lot about keeping New Year’s resolutions, but I haven’t touched at all on how to select those 1-3 achievable New Year’s resolutions.

Of course, some might be obvious, like:

• Quitting Smoking
• Losing Weight
• Finding a job (or perhaps a new one or better paying one)

But what about goals that aren’t so obvious? To get to the heart of what really matters to you, we need to go back to step #4.

We have to connect to the emotions behind what you really want.

1. What do you dream of?
2. Think about what you are most passionate about!
3. What do you secretly wish for when you blow out the candles on your birthday cake?

You see that is the stuff that really gets your emotions pumping.

Those are the things that really matter and are really important to you. It’s still important to follow all 5 steps and make sure your goals are achievable and realistic, but it’s OK to dream big!

You see, for instance, if you did want to move to Costa Rica, while that may not be realistic in 6 months, it could be within 12-18. You just need to map out the baby steps to get there.

4 TED Talks to Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutionshttp://t.co/H52Hl3h7sE #NewYearsResolution #TEDTalk pic.twitter.com/9YMTqnJMB3

— PeopleLine (@PeopleLine_UK) December 31, 2014

How do you stick to New Year’s resolutions?

Fear is the big reason many fail in keeping New Year’s resolutions.

Fear holds us back.

We hesitate and procrastinate. Often our fears aren’t rooted in any actual danger. We’re naturally afraid of the unknown. We’re afraid of failure.

Thus many never even start out of a fear of not succeeding.

So leap, then look. Know you will make mistakes or have setbacks. Understand that this world doesn’t always go as planned.

Better than have tried and failed than never tried at all. Plus there is a tremendous benefit in learning how to Overcome a Fear of Failure (click to read on my site). 

So what are my . . .

13 Top Keeping New Year’s Resolutions Tips You Need to Know?

1. BE SPECIFIC

Just like you can’t get to a destination if you haven’t picked EXACTLY where you are going, you must identify SPECIFICALLY what you want to achieve.

Don’t just say “lose weight”.

Have a number of either your ideal weight or how much weight you’d like to lose. You also need a realistic date to achieve that by; don’t just say this coming year or even in a month or two; have a date you want to achieve your goal by.

If you don’t know EXACTLY what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it by, I can pretty much guarantee you won’t hit your goals and you’ll have a very hard time keeping New Year’s resolutions.

2. BE REALISTIC

Pie in the sky goals doesn’t help anyone.

No; we have to make our goals achievable and realistic if we have any hope of meeting them. It’s OK to have stretch goals and it’s OK to dream big.

3. KEEP THEM SIMPLE

Going back to the weight analogy, how much weight is realistic for you to lose?  I weigh about 190 and am 5’10”.

Now, I have a decent amount of muscle for a guy in his early 50’s. And that does weigh more than fat, but for me, a SIMPLE goal for weight loss would be 10 pounds.

If I have a skinny friend who weighs 155 and I set my goal to be 160, guess what?  I’m NOT going to hit my goal.

Not only that, but I’ll likely feel bad about myself for not meeting my New Year’s resolutions and possibly gain weight in the wallowing process.

4. ONLY SET 1-3 RESOLUTIONS

Sure I’d like to have no body fat, win the lottery, get Lasik to correct my vision, quit my job and move to Costa Rica.

But guess what happens if I make ALL of those my New Year’s resolutions for the coming year?

That’s right, I won’t achieve all of them (or maybe even any of them as we tend to quit when we get discouraged).

Aside from a simple goal, you also need to be realistic about how many goals you set. 1-3 is very achievable but 5-10 almost guarantees you of NOT keeping New Year’s resolutions.

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5. DON’T EXPECT MIRACLES OVERNIGHT

We need to be realistic about the time frame to achieve our resolutions in.

If I want to lose 10 pounds, a realistic goal is 6 weeks to 2 months.  If I set a goal of 4 weeks, I am again setting myself up for failure and depression.

You can always EXCEED your New Year’s resolutions. When that happens, that feeling of accomplishment gives us motivation and traction.

So it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way around.

6. HAVE A ROADMAP

Just as I said above that you can’t hit your goal if you don’t know WHAT that is, you also can’t reach your destination without a map.

So take your 1-3 resolutions and map out the journey to achieving them.

Decide what you want to achieve each day, week and/or month.

7. BABY STEP TO SUCCESS

Guess what else maps provide aside from beginning and ending points?

That’s right; they provide EVERY step in between.

Thus, one of the best ways of keeping New Year’s resolutions is to break down every step along the way to your goal.

If I want to lose 10 pounds in 8 weeks, that breaks down to just under 1 pound per week to lose.  That is VERY achievable.  It also gives me a mark to hit at the end of each of those 8 weeks.

Thus, if I fall short one week, I still have the next week to make that up.

Those baby steps mean that I won’t just get to the end and find I missed my goal and give up; feeling bad about myself in the process.

One of the key Differences of Successful People vs. Unsuccessful People (click to read my post on this site) is having a plan.

8. WHY DO YOU WANT THIS?

Any Goal worth achieving should be a goal you can identify as to WHY it’s worth doing.

Do you want to lose 10 lbs so your clothes will fit better? Are you setting that weight loss goal in the hopes of being more attractive to your spouse or prospective date?

What is the end result of your achieving this New Year’s resolution?

Maybe you want to improve your overall health and avoid having to take prescription drugs as you get older?

You see, setting a goal and a date for hitting that goal are inherently logical things.  The “why” behind the goal, however, is an emotional thing.

When we connect with the emotion behind the desired outcome, that increases our motivation to hit that goal tenfold.

9. STAY POSITIVE

I mentioned being realistic above. Part of being realistic is accepting that things won’t always go our way.

Life happens and we don’t truly have any control over anything other than our response to what life hands us.

10. IT’S OK TO GIVE YOURSELF THE OCCASIONAL TREAT

By focusing on being positive & realistic, we need to anticipate that one week out of the coming weeks, I might get invited out to eat by a friend. And maybe we go to a restaurant known for its amazing desserts.

In that instance, I might opt to chow down on that killer crème brûlée and end up for the week 1 pound heavier instead of .8 lb. lighter.

At that moment, I can just take a deep breath.  I’ll also acknowledge that the crème brûlée was delicious.

Because I was smart enough to start with a realistic goal and break it down into small achievable steps, that simply means I need to lose 2 pounds this coming week; also very achievable.

11. BE KIND TO YOURSELF

If I get mad at myself and beat myself up, I’m 100% more likely to give up and abandon my New Year’s resolutions.

Remembering that like life, we aren’t perfect, sets us up to not beat ourselves (or anyone else) up when things don’t go exactly as planned.

It enables our attitude to remain positive and that is one of the key ways of keeping New Year’s resolutions!

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Check it out today and see if it can’t help you with your goals, for New Year’s and beyond!

Need some motivation?  Listen to Tony Robbins on this subject!

If he can’t motivate you with New Year’s resolutions tips, I’m not sure anyone can.

Are you now better prepared for keeping New Year’s resolutions?

In this post, we walked through some sobering New Year’s resolution statistics.

We looked at the reasons most people fail to stick to their resolutions.

But, most importantly, we looked at how implementing these simple tips can really make the difference between success and failure in keeping New Year’s resolutions.

You CAN hit your resolutions and I know these tips can help!

Did you achieve your resolutions from last year?  If so, what are your best tips to help others??

The post Keeping New Year’s Resolutions – 13 Tips That Really Work! appeared first on Middle Class Dad.