10 ways to ensure you keep your new year’s resolution

One strategy that many aren’t familiar with when it comes to making resolutions is that they always keep making the same resolution year after year. If you’ve already tried and failed at keeping your resolution, and you’re still willing to reach for the same goals you’ve tried in the past, try to reevaluate what’s the best strategy to achieve your goals and ask yourself “What has prevented you from keeping your resolution in past years?”

Doing so will help you alter your resolution slightly, making it more feasible for you to achieve. Only when will you be more likely to see real results this year.

Tell a friend or family member about your resolutions so they’ll check up on you from time to time. The fact that someone else knows about you means you can’t just forget about your goals and sweep them under the carpet if you don’t achieve them. It’ll put a bit of extra pressure on you and the fact that you might be letting someone else down too will motivate you to do your best to fulfil your resolutions.

You could even do ‘group resolutions’, where you make them with a friend or more, so you all share one goal and work to push each other on as the year progresses.

Telling your friends about your new year’s resolution is one way of keeping yourself accountable. But if you’re truly determined to make a change this year, you might want to jot down your resolutions in your journal so you can keep track of the progress you’ve made as the months go by. Doing so will also give you an opportunity to get the motivation to work on your goals and you’ll also have ready proof of your efforts if you’re ever feeling like giving up.

It’s good to make a list of resolutions but achieving them won’t be easy if you don’t have a plan. It’s like driving to a destination – you know you want to get there but the best way is to map out a route, as opposed to driving around aimlessly. In this case, put your resolutions into your schedule so they become a part of your daily life. That way, they’ll always be on your mind and you’ll find the time to do things to follow them through.

So, for example, if your goal is to lose weight, schedule sessions during the week where you’ll exercise; or if your aim is to do more charity work, make some time every week or two where you’ll do some volunteer work.

While it’s good to aim for the stars in some scenarios in life, this isn’t one of them. You’re never going to ‘achieve world peace’, for example, but you can make your world a better place by being nicer to everyone you meet.

Keeping your resolutions realistic means there’s a higher chance you’ll achieve them so don’t try to change your entire life or personality in one year. Baby steps are the way to go here, to avoid disappointment.

Look for people around you who have achieved goals similar to your resolutions. Reach out to people on blogs or speak to those in your social circle. Or just find inspirational stories online that will push you further. But find out the person’s whole story before you get inspired; they might be keeping some details from you that made it easier for them to get to their goal.

For example, someone’s “I lost 10kg in two months!” story might sound impressive but if you dig deeper, you might find she used to live on a diet of fast food and soft drinks and therefore it was easier for her to lose weight once she cut them out of her diet. So if you don’t have those same bad eating habits, it might be harder for you to achieve that reach in that same period.

Don’t feel let down if you don’t go all the way in turning your life around but instead give yourself a pat on the back if you make any changes for the better. Cut yourself some slack if you only manage to find the time to work towards half of your resolutions because achieving something is better than nothing at all.

If you accept credit for any small steps you take towards realising your goals, you’ll be more motivated to do more, instead of giving up.

Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to attain all your resolutions quickly. So don’t panic when March comes ’round and you haven’t made any changes at all. It’s best to create a plan that you’ll review every few weeks or a couple of months and break down your goals into smaller ones.

So if your goal is to save money, set aside a small amount every month, instead of aiming for a high sum immediately and feel disappointed in yourself if you can’t do it.

So you actually put on 2kg in the first three months of the year, instead of losing weight as per your resolution. Don’t beat yourself up and have a meltdown. Instead, tell yourself it’s okay to slip up and pick yourself up and get back onto the path of achieving your resolutions again.

Be aware that you might be faced with possible setbacks then create a plan for how to deal with them. Make a list of some obstacles that might get in the way of your resolutions and whether you’re equipped to deal with them or tweak your plans.

You’ll have a higher chance of achieving your resolutions with a fool-proof plan.

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