Tips for Achieving New Year’s Resolutions
We wrote a similar article to this two years ago where we went over “SMART Goals.” This time we’re shifting to direct tips to actually making those goals happen. So, if you want tips on how to make achievable goals, click here.
As cheesy and played out as “New Year Resolutions” might be, I always find myself making them. They’re usually the bog-standard ones like: exercise more, eat better, or work on that personal creative project, but they often end up falling flat for me.
I kept looking up goal setting tips and tricks and tried every method imaginable to make these goals happen and something (probably me) kept getting in the way. But in January of 2023, I made a couple of changes that really helped! And I’m proud to say that I achieved nearly all my goals for this year, and there were some big ones.
How’d I do it? Mostly through constant reminders. But I found there were a couple of other sneakier changes that I wouldn’t have considered without doing some research and interviewing people who consider themselves successful and goal oriented. Check out the tips below.
Accountability Partners are Great… for Some People
To share your goals or not. As a full-time writer who also blogs for fun, I’m a sharer. I tell everyone everything and I rarely stop talking. When I was interviewing people for the “SMART Goal” article, 7 of the 30 people I talked to said that they intentionally keep their goals to themselves. Of the other 23, 15 of them said they have accountability partners.
So I gave it a shot, and it worked! I would say that keeping things to myself was one of the biggest things that made my creative goals more achievable. By doing this I wasn’t worried about other people’s expectations, and I was motivated to actually finish projects so I could talk about them.
That being said, if half the people I talked to had accountability partners, that must mean something. Sharing goals with people, especially people who might have the same goals, is extremely useful as it gives you someone to talk to that can motivate you or give you tips on your journey.
If you do have an accountability partner, be careful about comparison. Jealousy can be a great motivator, but it can also ruin friendships and degrade your mental health, making your goal less achievable.
Be sure you set clear guidelines about the kind of things you’d want from an accountability partner. For example, if you’re looking to lose weight do you want them calling you at 5am to make sure you’re on your way to the gym? Or do you want them to take a softer approach and be more of the cheerleading type? These are all important questions, so you don’t start to resent the person you trusted with your goal.
Have a Running Reminder
The old post-it note on the computer monitor trick still works wonders in the modern age! Write your goal down or the steps you need to take to achieve your goal and put it somewhere you can see it!
There are great tools and apps that can send you daily reminders for goals that you’re heading toward, but I found that one of the most helpful things at your disposal is just a calendar. If it’s a physical one that you check regularly, write down what you need to do on certain days to achieve your goals.
If it’s a digital calendar, check if there are reminder notifications that you can set up. On Google Calendar, for example, you can add a “task” to your calendar that will send you a notification that you can check off like a to-do list. This works great for me as I’m often getting distracted by my phone.
Make “Working” on your Goal Seamless
There’s a lot of different ways to follow this tip but let me start with an anecdote.
I used to be a runner. I would go on long runs twice a day and loved it. An injury put me out of it, and I just couldn’t build the habit back up. I would tell myself I’d go for a run. And then I’d sit on the couch or the computer and just not go do it. I knew that if I could just get out of the door, I’d be able to go out and finish a run.
Part of the problem is that to go on a run, you must change into workout clothes, put on running shoes, etc. So, I broke it down. I wanted to run every day at 6pm, so at 5:30, I had a reminder on my phone to go change into running clothes. By removing the barrier where I had to go put on the clothes, I made achieving the goal of running seamless by removing the barrier of changing.
One of the people I interviewed wanted to start making art to sell online. Their barrier was that they did not enjoy sitting in front of their computer because their office was depressing. The solution? They got a tablet they could work on while sitting on the couch! I checked in with them this year and they added some more lighting into their office and some decorations on the wall and said that now they can work in their office again.
Removing any blocks and making the goal easier to approach is key to actually starting a goal. But you might have to get creative! The idea of wearing my running clothes thirty minutes prior did not come to me for about two years. But if you actively think about the pressure points in doing your goal’s tasks, maybe you can come up with something creative.
Other ideas? People I talked to who had a weight loss goal completely removed snacks and sweets from their house. Another person started meal prepping so they were less likely to turn to fast food when in a time crunch.
And that’s all I’ve got for this year! If you are setting resolutions for this year, I wish you luck! As a reminder we have some tools that might be useful depending on what goals you have.
Best Health offers access to a health coach and a lot of things that make living a healthier life easy (plus, you can win money just by participating). We are also partnered with Purchasing Power, which is a great budgeting tool that might help you keep your finances in check, even when you’re making big purchases. We also offer MetLife Legal, which is a fantastic way to get your Will and Trust done, but also might be useful if you’re looking to file a patent or any other complicated legal task.
Check them out by clicking the links below:
https://www.sdpeba.org/news/city/rewards-for-living-healthy-with-best-health
https://www.sdpeba.org/news/city/everything-you-want-to-know-about-purchasing-power
https://www.sdpeba.org/news/city/everything-you-need-to-know-about-metlife-legal