How To Stick To New Year’s Resolutions: 10 Smart Tips

It’s great to have new inspiration and new resolutions for a better life, at the beginning of every New Year. Now that we are almost two weeks into the new year, and we have some new goals just like we had when we started the last year, achieving them may require some simple changes in our daily routine and habits. Staying committed to the resolutions you made for 2024, certainly requires your efforts and determination, but with some patience and the right strategies, you will stay on track and reach your goals.

Some common goals for anyone at the beginning of the year are less usage of social media, more family time, eating healthy, staying fit, reducing carbon footprint and the list goes on. As weeks and months pass by, many external influences such as stress, people, and social circumstances distract us from focusing on our resolve and when we don’t have the right strategy and appropriate follow-through, we could give up our resolve before we reach the middle of the year.

Tips to make your resolutions stick

Set Realistic Goals

Make sure your resolve is achievable and realistic. Setting overly ambitious goals may lead to frustration and disappointment. Breaking your big goals in smaller and realistic ones makes them achievable and keeps you motivated to keep working on your goals.

Prioritize

Prioritize what matters most to you, rather than overwhelming yourself with a lot of tasks on your to-do list. Priorities help you stay focused and keep you from losing your track. When your priorities change, reorder them, to get back on track.

Take small steps

If you are looking forward to a change in your lifestyle, or building a new habit, you must focus on the process of achieving your goal and not on the result alone, helps you plan right. Taking small steps towards a big goal, will keep you motivated and make it easy to track your progress everyday.

Identify obstacles

When you know what stands in the way of your success or stops you from reaching your goal, you can plan better, keep the obstacles in mind, and not let your guard down or get distracted. If your goal is to spend more time with family and reduce your screen time, you must turn your social media notifications off, to avoid getting tempted to spend more time scrolling through the screen.

Self-monitoring

Self-monitoring helps you to adjust your behavior by the track of your progress. Have a checklist for self-monitoring and make plans ahead to align with your goals. It helps you identify and tackle obstacles that keep you from focusing on your resolve.

Stay motivated

Positive motivation keeps you working through the process and drives you towards the goal. It makes you feel compelled to complete your task. Some simple ways to stay motivated are, keeping a gratitude journal, looking for success stories, and leaning on your support network when needed.

Consider a group resolution

Have a common goal as a family, such as having at least one meal together in a day. When all work together, you feel motivated and you’re more likely to accomplish your goals with engagement and interaction from other members of the family.

Track your progress

Tracking your progress is an essential part of setting effective goals. It helps you understand the path to success better and helps you plan accordingly. checking off completed tasks or marking pending tasks on a planner or calendar is an easy way to keep track of how are progressing.

Reminders

Reminders help you stay on top your goals and not waste time on something futile. They help you stay organized and not give in to the distractions of daily life. Rewriting your resolutions at times, marking them on your calendar, or using your task manager are ways to solidify your goals in your mind and not forget them amid the distractions of life.

Get creative

With the same twists and turns in the maze of daily routine, one would certainly look for a change and not want to get stuck with the same to-do list every single day. In such situations, one could look for some relaxation in life and move away from the resolutions made on new Year’ day.

To make the process interesting and stick to the goal, you need to have a plan that involves some creativity. Create a unique way to reach your resolve, that not only gets you to your goals, but also helps you learn and evolve along the way.

Change does take time, but making simple and small changes and working every day on the path that leads you to success will help you do better and keep progressing. Do not give up if you fail at times, but celebrate small successes and keep going.

What keeps you motivated to stick to your New Year’ resolutions? Do share in the comments.