New Year's Resolutions - How to make and stick to them!
Before we start, two amazing books that i'd highly recommending reading as soon as possible would be James Clear - Atomic Habits, and Jeff Hayden - The Motivation Myth
Less than half of new year's resolutions actually stick...
What's your goal? Is it to get fit... loose weight, or just keep the house tidy? Let's look at how to choose a new year's resolution...
The first step is how to pick a particular goal that is:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound
The second step is to start and create habits that allow you to achieve your goals... this is where the two books come in.
Getting started is huge and I have numerous methods to help me with this and have written about them before (see here) to try and give an insight as to how you can apply them to yourself... but make them your own... it can be applied to anything.
I think the main one of late for me is chunking the thing you want to make a habit, with something that you enjoy doing or look forward to. For example... If i'm struggling to get on the turbo then i'll relate it to watching something that i've wanted to watch on TV and put that on whilst cycling. There are numerous examples so click above (or below) for more...
Below is taken from the New York Times that goes into some more detail on the above.
Specific. Your resolution should be absolutely clear. “Making a concrete goal is really important rather than just vaguely saying ‘I want to lose weight.’ You want to have a goal: How much weight do you want to lose and at what time interval?” said Katherine L. Milkman, an associate professor of operations information and decisions at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “Five pounds in the next two months — that’s going to be more effective.”
Measurable. This may seem obvious if your goal is a fitness or weight loss related one, but it’s also important if you’re trying to cut back on something, too. If, for example, you want to stop biting your nails, take pictures of your nails over time so you can track your progress in how those nails grow back out, said Jeffrey Gardere, a psychologist and professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine. Logging progress into a journal or making notes on your phone or in an app designed to help you track behaviors can reinforce the progress, no matter what your resolution may be.
Achievable. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have big stretch goals. But trying to take too big a step too fast can leave you frustrated, or affect other areas of your life to the point that your resolution takes over your life — and both you and your friends and family flail. So, for example, resolving to save enough money to retire in five years when you’re 30 years old is probably not realistic, but saving an extra $100 a month may be. (And if that’s easy, you can slide that number up to an extra $200, $300 or $400 a month).
Relevant. Is this a goal that really matters to you, and are you making it for the right reasons? “If you do it out of the sense of self-hate or remorse or a strong passion in that moment, it doesn’t usually last long,” said Dr. Michael Bennett, a psychiatrist and co-author of two self-help books. “But if you build up a process where you’re thinking harder about what’s good for you, you’re changing the structure of your life, you’re bringing people into your life who will reinforce that resolution, then I think you have a fighting chance.”
Time-bound. Like “achievable,” the timeline toward reaching your goal should be realistic, too. That means giving yourself enough time to do it with lots of smaller intermediate goals set up along the way. “Focus on these small wins so you can make gradual progress,” Charles Duhigg, author of “The Power of Habit” and a former New York Times writer, said. “If you’re building a habit, you’re planning for the next decade, not the next couple of months.”
What are your goals and how do you aim to achieve them? Tag us in any of your social posts and we will share them... become accountable!