Making & Keeping your New Years Resolutions

January 5, 2022

It’s that time of year when we’re all making resolutions for the new year. Some will make resolutions to lose weight and eat healthier while others might make resolutions to spend more time outside or learn a new hobby. Whatever your new years resolution might be, we’ve got a few helpful tips on how you can make your resolutions and stick to them all year!

Set realistic goals

The first step to making your resolutions is to set goals for yourself. Determine what you want to do this year, and understand that there will be days when you may not achieve your goals and that’s ok. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Determine what goals you want and ask yourself if they are something that you can achieve along with all of your other daily responsibilities.  

Make your resolutions achievable with a plan

As you set your goals, set up a plan for how you’re going to get there. Having a plan that works in small steps is easier to achieve than one large goal and doesn’t seem as daunting. A great example would be if you say that you want to get out and walk more this year. Instead of saying you want to walk an hour every day, start by saying you want to walk 10 minutes per day. Then when you’re in a good habit, add another 5 or 10 minutes until you eventually work up to the 60 minutes per day. 

Be Accountable

The best way to stick with your resolutions is to make them with someone else. Having someone to share the same goal with is a great way to hold each other accountable and motivate the other person to stick with it. One of our staff members told us this-

“My husband and I made the goal to stretch for 5 minutes every night before we go to bed as a way to help unwind and relax our bodies and minds for sleep. There have definitely been some nights where one of us doesn’t want to do it for whatever reason, but the other has been there to make sure we do. It’s been 2 months now since we started and we haven’t missed a single night yet!”

Change your mindset

New Years Resolutions are often made to change negative habits that we have fallen into, which usually means that we have a negative connotation with our goals, i.e. “I need to lose weight because I’m fat“. Changing your mindset on how you view your goals can go a long way to sticking with your resolutions and accomplishing them. Instead of the original statement, change it to say “I want to lose weight so that I can be healthier.“. Not only does that statement sound more positive, but it removes the self-negativity that you’re putting on yourself too. As you stick to your goals and start to see results, your mindset will naturally shift in a more positive direction.

Keep Track & Reward Yourself

Keep track of your progress, whether you share with friends, or just keep track for yourself, seeing the progress that you make can be great motivation. At the same time, give yourself small rewards when you meet your smaller goals. The reward acts as a source of motivation to get to it, and also as a “Job Well Done” when you get there. 

Don’t give up!

The last and most important trick is not to give up. Did you know that it takes 21 days to form a habit? The first 3 weeks are the hardest to get through, which is why people who get gym memberships on January 1st usually stop going halfway through the month. Once you make it past those first 21 days, it gets a lot easier because now you’re in a routine! If you do fall off the wagon, just take a moment to reset and evaluate what threw you off, then get back to it. There is no rule that says if you don’t make your goals in the first month of the year that you won’t ever make them. Achieve your goals at a pace that makes sense for you. If it takes you 6 months or a full year to get there, that’s ok! 

 

The StayWell Health Center Team