Hello, 2020! Picking Your New Year’s Resolutions and Sticking to Them
“New year, new me”, right? Oftentimes, this is just a catchy phrase people say at the beginning of the year to pretend like they’re getting their act together. As we all know, making a New Year’s resolution is easy. Sticking with a resolution for more than a few weeks though? Not so easy.
Seeing as how only about 8% of us who set goals actually achieve them, some people have long given up on making resolutions. But research has found that people who make resolutions are actually 10 times more likely to go through with changing their behavior than those who don’t make resolutions.
So, it can’t hurt making resolutions for the new year. It can be easy to come up with resolutions. With about 75% of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, and 27% having no money saved at all, it’s no surprise that one of the top resolutions is to save money. Or it can be something as simple as finally going to the dentist after a few years of not going so you don’t have to join the three million people who have dental implants.
A few other popular choices include eating better, exercising more, reading more books, learning new skills, getting a new job, and focusing less on appearance. But once you’ve come up with your resolutions, it’s important to remember that there is no guarantee that you’ll magically achieve all of your goals. However, there are a few things you can do to make it easier to stick to your resolutions. Hello, 2020! Picking Your New Year’s Resolutions and Sticking to Them!
First off, don’t make your goals overly ambitious. If you have overly ambitious goals, you might end up getting frustrated when you don’t achieve them, causing you to abandon them all together. Instead, come up with goals that are actually attainable. If you read one book every other month this year, shoot for one book every month next year. If you give yourself a doable challenge, you’re more likely to stick with your resolutions.
Additionally, you should consider two linked goals instead of one major goal. Recent studies by Dr. John Norcross at the University of Pennsylvania at Scranton found that having two goals naturally linked to each other may lead to better success. So if your main goal is to lose weight, focus instead on cutting sugar and carbs while keeping a journal of food and drink you consume. In doing this, you will statistically increase your chances of reaching your overall goal of weight loss.
And lastly, making a public declaration regarding your resolutions will help you stay on track. So go ahead and post your diet plan on Instagram or leave a review of your monthly book on Facebook. Using social media can actually be a great way to keep you motivated to reach your goals.
It can be difficult to keep up with our New Year’s resolutions, especially if we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. But by making small goals, and rewarding yourself for your victories, you can kick 2018’s butt and achieve anything you set your mind to. And remember, if you don’t reach your goals, that’s okay — there’s always next year.
I don’t do New Years resolutions. I mean, I have goals, but I don’t panic if I don’t make them. I always strive to be careful with money though. You never know what can happen.
This is interesting to read, I don’t make new years resolutions anymore because I don’t stick to them I have to get myself into the right mindset and for me winter isn’t the time, so if I want to try and change something I try and do it over the summer months.
I always make New Years resolutions but I can never seem to stick to them. So now I just take little steps and small goals and that works better.
I gave up on New Year’s resolutions and started making goals. Last year I wrote out a long list and by the end of the year I had completed part of them. I felt accomplished. 🙂 But I like the idea of doing two related things. I think that would help me.
These are wonderful tips. It’s so important to make small achievable goals. Every small action counts towards that goal.
This is awesome! I didn’t pick a New Year’s resolution, I decided to have a word and use it all year long. My word is AIM and I have used it without realizing it many a times already this year – so far it’s been the best word for me.
I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I make goals I know I can achieve and one goal that I have to push myself to achieve.
I am better at making the resolutions than I am at keeping them! Your post has me thinking that I need to be more vocal about them. I am about most other things!
I’m not good at making resolutions and achieving any. lol! Thank you for this post I will need to sit and check if I’m doing it right.
This is why I don’t keep any new year resolutions But I want to finish some goals if possible. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post.
Such wonderful tips! This is the first year that I’ve really made resolutions and I am so happy to be sticking to them so far!