Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions with the hope of bringing about positive change. Every year, the recurring themes are a more active approach to health and fitness, improved finances, and learning new things for personal and professional development. Making resolutions or setting goals is like having your cheerleader cheering you on! Setting goals is a promise you make to yourself and your dreams. It all comes down to accountability and taking responsibility for your actions. When you set goals, you build a structure that keeps you on track and motivated.
Only 46% of those who set New Year’s resolutions succeed, says a study
Deadlines and milestones become your faithful companions, encouraging you to stay focused and disciplined. By sticking to your plan and putting in the work daily, you build habits that pave the path for your personal and professional growth and success. Chances are, more than a couple of the top 10 most common resolutions will look familiar to you:
- Exercise more
- Lose weight
- Get organized
- Learn a new skill or hobby
- Live life to the fullest
- Save more money / spend less money
- Quit smoking
- Spend more time with family and friends
- Travel more
- Read more
Despite the best of intentions, many people struggle to follow through on their plans after the sparkle of a brand-new year wears off. Only 46% of those who set New Year’s resolutions succeeded, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology. That indicates that more than half of those who set a goal for the new year will fail! Non-resolvers, or persons who did not make a New Year’s resolution but had a goal they intended to fulfil that year, were also included in the study. Only 4% of non-resolvers succeeded in their aims, a considerably worse outcome than those who made a New Year’s resolution. Naturally, we don’t want to be among those who fail to reach their goals for 2024, so we’ve devised a comprehensive plan for carrying out your commitment. Follow these ten steps if you want to keep your New Year’s resolution this year:
Prepare your mind for change
Changing engrained behaviours is difficult, so before jumping headfirst into your New Year’s resolutions, take a step back and prepare for the impending shift. Naturally, your resolution will focus on areas where development is lacking but don’t forget to relish the success that has been accomplished and find some tiny way to celebrate. Those good feelings are beneficial! If at all feasible, attempt to connect them to an object or word associated with your success. You’ll want to make your new resolution positive so that you may use the positive link with last year’s accomplishments to remind you of those pleasant feelings when you’re feeling challenged.
Set a goal that inspires you
You’d be shocked at how often individuals make objectives for others rather than themselves. These objectives may be prescribed or coerced by management, spouse, or parental/peer pressure. While it’s wonderful to have some outside support, if you don’t share the same enthusiasm, the resolution has a low probability of success and may even fail before it begins. To accomplish this, you must ensure that the goal you establish is significant to you and only you and that there is value or profit to you in reaching it. These two factors will supply the motivation and willingness to act. This is also referred to as motivation!
Keep your resolutions to a moderate number
Having too many resolutions and spreading yourself too thin is a common pitfall in resolution-making. We’d all like to acquire 25 new languages, 15 new work skills, and kick 5 bad habits, but we’re not superhuman. We only have so much attention span to devote to self-improvement, so having too many resolutions is a wonderful way to fall short of the numerous goals you have set for yourself. As a result, you should make a small list of resolutions that you can accomplish in the next year. The difficult aspect is determining a limited list of priorities. Understanding how to prioritize is critical in this situation.
Divide large ambitions into smaller targets
When it comes to resolutions, many of us are overly enthusiastic and extravagant. We have the best of intentions, but we may unintentionally set a goal that is too lofty to achieve. As a result, it’s beneficial to break down a large objective into smaller, more manageable goals. Assume you are the leader of an alien race, and your goal for 2024 is to conquer the planet Earth. That is a lofty objective!! You can’t just command your interstellar fleet of spacecraft to “take over planet Earth,” and expect to be successful.
Share your goals with others
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” It’s fine to set a resolution for oneself and perhaps even write it down, but if no one else is aware of it, it’s simple to forget or even neglect. Nobody will notice or care if you don’t attain it. Your contemporaries who choose to inform someone about their aim, on the other hand, feel differently. They now feel a feeling of obligation and accountability because they have made their goal public. Essentially, if you do not follow through, they will disappoint everyone.