Ideas for New Year’s Resolutions You’ll Actually Keep

Ideas for New Year’s Resolutions You’ll Actually Keep

Happy New Year to all my readers! It’s the start of a brand new year, full of exciting potential. It’s also the time of year when thoughts turn to goals and aspirations for the coming 12 months, with almost 30% of Brits making resolutions for 2024. Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? They sound great in theory, but 21% of resolution-setters break them by the end of January*.

Why is it so difficult to stay on track? Is there a way to make resolutions and stick to them throughout the year, and all the years to come? Absolutely – and today I’m sharing my ideas for New Year’s Resolutions you’ll actually keep.

Why Do People Break Their Resolutions?

There are two main reasons why people break their resolutions: the goals set are either unrealistic or too vague. Setting yourself pie-in-the-sky targets such as ‘be healthier’ or ‘save more money’ lack definition which is crucial for success.

Instead of setting yourself up for failure with well-intentioned but overly grand statements, go small and specific. Write down achievable goals for the short-term. Be honest with yourself about your willpower, time constraints, other responsibilities, or physical ability – whichever of those is relevant to your personal goals.

Having small achievable targets for the next few days or weeks, written down in a dedicated notebook or on an app, is the best way to stay on track with your New Year’s Resolutions.

Ideas For Realistic Resolutions

What sort of New Year’s Resolutions should you set? This is obviously a very personal question – only you can decide what you’d like to improve upon or achieve in the next 12-months and beyond. It’s important that your goals are for you – don’t change yourself for anyone else. The most common resolutions are health/weight-loss or finance related, such as reaching a goal weight or saving a sum of money for plans such as property purchase, travel, or a wedding.

Perhaps, in the past, you have set similar resolutions. Then before you know it, another year has passed, and somehow you didn’t manage to ‘lose some weight’, ‘exercise more’, ‘eat healthier’ or ‘save some money’. Make this year THE year it happens! Get specific with your goals – for example:

Instead of ‘lose some weight’, set yourself a (realistic, achievable & healthy) goal weight and set out a plan of action to get there within the next 12 months. Think week-by-week instead of long-distance; reduce your calories & up your exercise to lose a healthy 0.5 – 2lbs per week (depending on your starting weight). Use a notebook or app planner to track & celebrate your progress.

Instead of ‘exercise more’, think about what sort of exercise you enjoy, and which can fit into your existing schedule. Are you a morning or evening person? Will you really get up at the crack of dawn to exercise daily, or is the late afternoon/evening more feasible? Do you hate the gym? There are many exercises you can do from home, with YouTube guidance. If heavy impact exercise is too much for your body, try activities such as yoga. Walking is a hugely underrated exercise which is free, provides huge health benefits and supports healthy weight maintenance if scheduled into your regular daily routine.

Instead of ‘save some money’, set some time aside to properly look at your household income and expenditure. I know… not fun! It’s the only way to see exactly where your money is going each month, though, and to find your starting point. Set your goal savings amount, then make plans to cancel subscriptions to things you don’t use, want or need. Can you reduce any of your monthly bills, such as moving to a lower price satellite or cable TV service, or mobile phone contract? Perhaps you can spend less on your weekly groceries? Calculate how much you can realistically afford to siphon off into a savings account each week or month, and pledge to leave it alone once it’s there!

Help With Sticking To Your Resolutions

Another reason why many struggle to stick to their New Year’s Resolutions is fatigue. Not physical tiredness, although that may be an issue depending on your personal goals; I mean feeling mentally so over all this New Year, New Me stuff. We may start January with a rush of positivity and motivation, only for the winter blues to kick in on the second week of the month and all our goals suddenly seem depressingly out of reach and like we’ll never get there so what’s the point in trying.

Be prepared for this common hurdle. When you feel yourself flagging, that’s when your small, specific and short-term targets will come into their own. Focus on getting through this week the best you can, with your goals in mind. Hell, just get to the end of the day without throwing into the towel – daily success is still success. Think how proud of yourself you’ll feel when you wake up the next day still on track.

If you do ‘mess up’ and break a resolution, it’s not the end of the world – and it needn’t be the death knell for your goals, either. Nobody is perfect, we all make mistakes. It’s how you recover that counts. Get back on that horse! I have days which are a total write-off in my opinion; I go to bed and try to wake up with a fresh, positive outlook where I’ll try again. Mistakes don’t determine failure; it’s refusing to learn from them and when you completely give up that you’ll find another year slips by without reaching those goals.

Finding yourself overwhelmed by your New Year’s Resolutions? You might need to revisit your initial targets and adjust them according to your availability, energy levels, physical ability and just how your life is. Rather than completely giving up, make a new plan – there are no rules which say you can’t. Make smaller, more achievable goals which still stand you in good stead for the year ahead. Or get rid of some superfluous goals and just focus on your main one. Instead of monthly or weekly targets, you might need to go day-by-day instead. Instead of daily exercise, aim for just weekdays and give yourself a rest at the weekends – or exercise 3 times a week. Or just when you feel you have the energy, but do try to plan those days so it isn’t just a vague ‘when I get around to it’ wisp of an idea.

Conclusion

If you’re here reading this article, it’s safe to assume you’re searching for inspiration making New Year’s Resolutions and for help with sticking to them. I hope you’ve found my advice helpful, and I wish you all the best with your goals through this exciting new year.

Remember, life shouldn’t simply be a measure of what you can achieve, we’re here to enjoy it. Your worth doesn’t come down to a number on the scale, how many countries you can visit in your lifetime or how much money you can accumulate. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself when working hard to reach your targets. Take each day as it comes, one day at a time, and just do your best. That’s all you can do. If you fall down, the important thing is to get up and try again.

Enjoy your journey to a happier, healthier, more fulfilled you… and enjoy the life-changing potential of this brand-new year!

 

*Source: https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/life-insurance/new-years-resolution-statistics/