How to Make New Year's Resolutions You'll Stick To

When a new year swings around, one of the most common things to do is to make New Year’s resolutions. These are usually resolutions that we make that are meant to be positive! 

From planning to go to the gym more, eating healthier, being more social, or saving more money, there’s a plethora of resolutions that we can make. Actually sticking to those resolutions can be the hardest part.

There’s the running joke that everyone who makes the resolution to go to the gym more has effectively given up by February. Sometimes resolutions may seem doable and things you can stick to in the excitement of the holiday season, but you might end up giving up on them. So let’s take a look at some ways to make some New Year’s resolutions that you’ll actually be able to stick to!

Below we’ll look at some easy ways to set resolutions that you can stick to, whether that’s through making smaller resolutions or really sticking with what works. There are a few ways to create resolutions for the New Year that you’ll be able to actually stick with.

1. Create some smaller resolutions

Have you made the resolution in the past that you’re going to study more, work out, and make more relaxation time? Those are all admirable resolutions, but they’re quite a lot altogether. When we make resolutions, we tend to aim very high and very big. But if we want to make resolutions that we can really stick to, try your hand at making resolutions that are a bit smaller.

For example, let’s look at making relaxation time. Just saying “I want to make more time to relax” is a broad statement and doesn’t really specify how you’re going to make that time. But if you make the resolution to set aside an hour every week where you’re going to relax, that’s much more doable and realistic than just saying you’re going to relax more. 

By breaking down the bigger resolution into something smaller, you’re giving yourself easier to achieve goals. Smaller tasks, or in this case resolutions, are much more manageable.

2. Get specific with those resolutions

Similar to how we looked at the relaxation time above in terms of creating smaller resolutions, there is something to be said about being more specific in your resolutions. By breaking down large resolutions or resolutions that are overly broad, you’re once more setting up realistic expectations and goals for yourself.

Being more specific in your goals allows you to nail down exactly what you want to do. And once you’ve fulfilled that specific resolution, you’re able to say that you have accomplished it! For example, a resolution might be “I’d like to eat healthier”. But if we adjust the resolution to something like “I will learn to cook one new healthy recipe each month”, this gives you a much more specific goal to work towards!

3. Check in on your resolutions as the year goes on!

Checking in on where you are with your goals as the year goes on can be a great and simple way to keep up with the goals you set out for yourself. This lets you do two things: reassess your goals as you need to and hold yourself accountable. 

Self accountability can be good because you’ll be the one that sits down and looks at where you are in your goals and what you might still need to do to work on them. Self accountability ties directly to reassessing your goals as well, making check-ins throughout the year a “kill two birds with one stone” moment.

If you find that you’re not quite to your goal or if what you want from the goal has changed, then a check-in is a fantastic way to tweak the goal. Reassessing your goals lets you adjust as you need to to keep those goals attainable.

4. Celebrate your little successes!

As with anything else in life, fulfilling your New Year’s resolutions doesn’t have to be all about the final result. One reason people may not see their resolutions out to the end is because of that February-March period where they just kind of lose steam. People can lose motivation with no incentive or even small celebrations along the way of a bigger goal!

So take the time to celebrate the successes that are small! Are you working on journaling everyday as your goal or have you been working on a study schedule that’s more realistic for yourself? Great! Celebrate those first two weeks by watching that movie you had to put off to meet those changes.

Celebrating the small successes are an excellent way to stay motivated and to remind yourself that you’re doing what you need to!

5. Write your goals down

This is definitely a bit cliche. But there is a lot to be said about actually writing out your goals. Not only does this let you see in a visual manner what your goals are, you can also be very clear in your goals. 

Writing out your goals lets you revise as you need to and being able to look at the goals you have written down is another simple way to remind yourself that you’ve set these goals for yourself.

Try writing your New Year’s resolutions out on a white board or posting them to your refrigerator so you can see them on a daily basis! By being able to see the goals you’ve written down yourself, you’re giving yourself an extra reminder of the goals you’ve set.

Now you can create your New Year’s resolutions with confidence that you’ll see them through! To read more articles from Edvoy, click here.