By: Megan Jones

Happy New Year and welcome to 2023! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and we hope this year brings you new opportunities. As every New Year begins, many of us may begin to make resolutions for goals we would like to accomplish this year. If you are anything like me, most of the goals I set out for get abandoned by the first quarter of the year. If you resonate with this, consider trying the tips to below on how to make your resolutions habits!

Why Are Resolutions Difficult to Keep?

If you are anything like me you may have a laundry list of goals you want to accomplish. Common ones that make my list every year are, get in shape, read more, save more, and drink more water. However, in past years it has been a goal with no action plan or any thought on how I am going to keep it. Therefore, these goals get abandoned rather quickly. Moreover, I am trying to complete these all at once, and that is a lot to take one. So, I have considered a few new techniques that I am going to try and implement into my resolutions this year.

Make Your Goals a Habit

Habits can take around sixty-six days to form. However, to tackle multiple goals all at once can be overwhelming. Therefore, consider taking on one goal at a time. My first goal is to drink more water. For the first quarter of this year, I am going to solely focus on this. Then after the first quarter I am going to take on another goal. By managing one goal at a time, my hope is to make it a habit and then I can take on the next goal.

Make a Plan

Goals are great in theory, but if you don’t have an action plan on how to implement them then you just have an idea. Make an action plan to hold yourself accountable. The best way to keep myself accountable is to write it down. If I only make a mental note, then the idea can get pushed to the  back of my mind. However, if I write it down and put it somewhere I can always see, then I continue to see my goal and plan of how to achieve it.

Additionally, many goals may be an investment in yourself, and you may need to make a financial contribution to your goal in order to accomplish it. Going back to my goal of wanting to drink more water, I purchased a brightly colored water bottle that has the time on it with motivational phrases. The bright color makes it easy for me to see it in my peripheral vision. In addition, having the water bottle have times helps me keep on track of how much water I need to drink to stay on track. So far I have met my goal every day!

Quantify When Possible

When making your goals, don’t generalize, quantity if you can. Going back to my water example, my goal is to try and drink 80 ounces a day, five days a week. I have set the goal to contain the amount I am doing per day and how often in a week I am doing it. If you generalize, you may think you have all the time or by doing it occasionally you are accomplishing your goal. However, if you put numbers to your goals you can make your plan of how you can accomplish it and ensure you meet what you have set out.

Create Micro-Goals

Once you have a couple major goals, consider adding a few micro goals. These are tiny goals that you can add into your routine in addition to you major goal. A few examples of micro goals that I am bringing into 2023 are.

No social media day: Once a month, I schedule a day that I don’t go on any social media. Social media can be time consuming and numerous studies have come out about the negative effects social media can have on a person. By taking one day, it is small enough that it is manageable, but it also provides me the opportunity to reflect on how frequent I rely on social media and potentially create a healthier relationship and balance with social media.

Read 10 pages before watching media: If I have time to watch TV, I can read 10 pages in a book first. At the end of the day, sometimes there is nothing better than sitting in front of the television. However, I find that I sit there too long, and I could have done something more productive. Therefore, I challenge myself to read 10 pages of a book before I watch my show. Thus far, there have been days where I would rather continue reading, and then there are other days that I read the ten pages and then put on my show.

Recipe Meal: Once a month, I will pick a new recipe out of a jar and add that meal into my meal plan for the week. This way I try a new recipe, it is an extra day I am cooking in the kitchen instead of ordering take out. It is a small goal that can lead to better habits throughout the year.

Don’t Micro-Quit

Once you have created a goal, created a plan, and if applicable quantified it—don’t quit. If you plan to run a mile on the treadmill, don’t get on the treadmill and then decide you are only going to do ¾ of a mile. If you do, it begins to create the habit of doing less and less until you abandon the goal altogether. Keep trying and you are more likely to build that habit and keep going!

Goals, they are difficult to create and maintain. They take consistent work and effort in order to accomplish them. Try not to take on too much all at once and you may have better luck at creating solid habits. Additionally, remember that you can’t grow if you maintain the same routine. You have to consistently put in effort and that can be uncomfortable. However, think of how great it will be to have one of your goals permanently added to your routine. You have to push yourself and keep trying in order to create the habit. We wish the best of luck with your 2023 resolutions and we know you are capable of anything you set your mind to!