At this time of the year, everyone starts to think about how they want to use the start of a new year as a taking-off point for better habits and choices. People like to use the term New Year’s Resolutions, but it can also just be goals, improvements and small tweaks we would want to make to be happier and more fulfilled. It’s admirable to want to start living a better life, but it’s also important to be realistic. A huge mistake many of us make is thinking that we have to start our year with big resolutions, but very often our efforts will fall flat because it’s impossible for us to completely change things in big leaps.
According to Stephen Guise, “Existing habits are usually stronger than people’s willpower strength to override them with their new goals over the long term. That’s why taking small steps stands apart as the most effective strategy for achieving our goals.” So if we want to make 2020 a year of great achievement, it’s important for the resolutions we set to actually be achievable. In this guide, we’ll show you how to go about setting goals for the year that you can follow through all the way to December 2020, and the rest of your life; instead of goals you would have dropped by February.
Start Right Now
Don’t make January 1st day 1 of your New Year’s Resolution. The trick to apply is to try setting and implementing resolutions before the year ends. At this time of the year, everyone is going to start getting lazy and complacent, but this is the best time to start taking small steps towards your goals for the future. It’s like when people only work towards their weight loss in the hot months, but fail to keep exercising beyond summer. The truth is, to achieve lasting success we have to keep making it a habit. If you want to get your fitness up, start exercising now, even if the workouts are short. If you want to read more, start reading a chapter of a short book a day right now. This is powerful because by the time you get to January, the action will be more of a habit and it’s more likely that it’s something you’ll stay committed to.
Think About What You Learned
Nothing is as powerful at teaching us about the changes we need to make going forward than the mistakes we made in the past. If we want to make meaningful changes, the best clues lie in what we could have done differently. If you felt like you were way too stressed this year and didn’t take care of yourself well enough, make self-care your resolution. If you felt like you and partner weren’t really connecting this year, use the new year to commit to more quality time. If we made mistakes that affected our friendships, we have to use our resolutions to address that. You will be more inspired, and more invested because the goal will be more meaningful and pressing to you.
Invest in Accountability
If we really want to follow through on the goals we set for ourselves, it’s so important for us to be held accountable. When the New Year energy starts to die down, this is when we will start getting a bit complacent. It’s in this moment that you would need to have someone or something holding you accountable so you can keep pushing yourself. If you want to lose weight, get a trainer. If you want to read more, join a book club. If you want to learn a new language, don’t just buy books; actually commit to a teaching program so that you can never get lazy. According to the Academy of Culture and Language, the best language school in Houston, “learning a language in the setting of an educational program is the fastest way to become proficient. Because it is an immersive experience, you will be better exposed to the language you’re learning.”
In conclusion, if you want to have New Year’s Resolutions that changes your life in the long-term, it’s important to go about setting and implementing them the right way. The most achievable goals are the ones that mean something to us, the ones that are implemented in small steps so that we create new habits, and the ones where we have accountability. With these 3 things, you can make 2020 the year that changed everything for you, and for all the best reasons!
