Keep Your Resolution this Year and Improve Your Life

Do you make a resolution to change and improve your life when the calendar changes to a New Year but have a hard time sticking to it?

Many of us do and many of us fail to keep these resolutions beyond a few days or weeks of the year.  We find it much easier to revert right back to the lifestyle that we’ve enjoyed for a long time and quickly forget about the goals we set. Here are some great ways to make sure you keep your resolution this year.

Choose a Specific Goal

The most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. Some may say they want to be more active or get in better shape, but most of us look at a few extra pounds and want to find a way to get rid of them. Rather than stating you want to “lose weight” you should set a specific goal such as to lose ten pounds.

Limit the Number of Resolutions

If you make a long list of changes you want to make in your life just because the calendar changed to a new year, there’s a good chance you won’t be successful at any of them. Focus on one resolution at a time and set an achievable goal that you’ll focus your time and energy on. Once you reach this goal, you can set another.

Make a Plan for Your Resolution

Put some time into the planning phase of your goal. How are you going to achieve your goal? What is the timeframe you’re setting for yourself? Why are you doing this? When will you celebrate success along the way? These are important questions to ask yourself as you create your plan and find a way to be accountable to the goal and work toward the success you want to see.

Small Steps Are the Path to Success

Don’t take on too much too quickly with your resolution. Take some small steps and achieve a few successes at a time. Once you have some success and reach small levels of your overall goal along the way, you’ll find it’s much easier to continue on the path and find the success you want with a few small steps that showed different ways that you made it to where you wanted to go.

Learn from the Past Resolution Failures

Have you set goals at the beginning of each year and failed miserably? This year it’s going to be different. One way to ensure this is to think about what caused you to fail before and how you can make changes to ensure success. Failure is part of life and is supposed to teach us about success and what to avoid along the way.

Change is a Process; Keep This In Mind

The unhealthy and undesirable habits that you’ve formed have probably brought you some satisfaction over the years and will take time to change. It took you a long time to get where you are and changethat can be a process. Be patient with yourself and set achievable and measurable goals that can show you that you’re on the right path to the success youwant to enjoy with your resolution.

Find a Support Group

It’s important to have other people that are on the same path as you and will help build you up, hold you accountable, and let you know what they are feeling and going through during the process. “Misery loves company” and many times a change in our lives can feel miserable at times. Find the right support and work together to achieve goals along the way.

Stay Motivated and Renew it As Needed

Sometimes you’ll need a break from your resolution and other times you’ll simply need to renew the reason you’re heading to the gym at 6 AM every day. When you feel your motivation dwindle remember why you’re doing what you are and review your goals. If you need a day off, take it, but get back on the horse as quickly as you can so that you don’t lose momentum.

Keep Working On your Resolution Goals

Whether you use a journal to mark your progress when trying to make a change or you find another way to keep track of things, you need to keep working on your goals. You might have a few days, a week, or even a month where you fail to stay on track, but you can always come back to your goals and continue from where you are right now.