It is very common for people to enter the New Year with ambition and a strong mindset. The new year is commonly set with high expectations and resolutions that everyone plans in order to start a new chapter off right. Common ones that you and I have most definitely have set have been: eat healthier, stay more organized, spend less time on social media, along with many other beneficial aspirations. But how often are our New Year’s Resolutions actually achieved or even set into action? Ambition is a common factor when it comes to setting goals, yet the steps to achieving them are harder to make. So what are steps to help us achieve New Years Resolutions or any goal for that matter.
Step 1: The Why
New Year’s Resolutions, and goals always start from a place of wanting change and betterment, and it is very important to admit and know the reasons for this change. Noted by many experts, the best way to make a resolution is to clearly articulate to yourself why you want to achieve this goal (Kaiser Permanente). By understanding why you want to reach this goal, it helps one pair it with the motivation to achieve it. Motivation is the driving force that sustains goal-oriented behavior and energizes one to achieve an objective (verywellmind). Motivation and why go hand in hand. By understanding the reason why this goal is important for oneself, motivation will support and keep you on task when the purpose is identified. Take a bad sleep schedule for example. A person might understand that having a bad sleep schedule makes you cranky and tired, but knowing that a good sleep cycle keeps your mind and body healthy and strengthens one’s immune system, this will be a stronger motivation and one is more inclined to make the change (Cleveland Clinic).
Step 2: The Specifics
It is very easy for anyone to have general overarching goals because it seems less overwhelming and easier to follow in your brain. Yet, this practice is largely unsuccessful due to the fact that this causes a more overwhelming factor. Fortunately, breaking down your goal is shown to make them more attainable. Experiments have shown that simply writing down your resolution, creating an action plan, and building a support system greatly increases one’s success in attaining a goal they have set for themselves (Michigan State University). Let’s take “Americans number-one New Year’s resolution” losing weight as an example. To easily achieve this resolution, it helps to break the goal down into smaller steps or specific behaviors. By identifying a specific habit, like eating too many sweets, make a plan to solve it, cutting one’s sweet intake into half. It is also important to start small, when trying to attain a resolution or goal, it is easier to increase the time as one goes along the journey then too start to big and overload your mind (Kaiser Permanente).
Step 3: Don’t be Afraid to Ask For Help
It is much easier said than done to ask for help when trying to attain a personal resolution that you have set for yourself. Although, a support system offers many beneficial things such as providing a new perspective, accountability, and sharing the load (Beth Inglish). When those we trust, admire, and love around us understand the importance of the resolution and goal you have set, they will and should want to support and encourage you to work at it. By asking for help and sharing your journey with others, it has been shown that others are more inclined to join you on your journey and therefore have someone you can discuss your goal with making it more manageable (Beth Inglish). For example if your resolution is to go on a run everyday, you can easily find a running buddy and partner who will lift you up and you do the same for them. By having a partner to complete a resolution or goal with, it helps enormously (Kaiser Permanente).
Step 4: Watch your Growth
This step is disliked by many as it holds oneself accountable for the resolution that has been set. Yet studies have shown the importance of recording one’s progress and the success that one achieves when doing so (American Psychological Association). Tracking progress is used as a way to see growth and give feedback from where you started earlier on your journey. By reflecting on one’s progress, positive results become more meaningful and likely as one has watched and noted every time they worked towards this resolution. As one goes on to achieve their goals, they start seeing small progress, but when they look at the bigger picture at the end of the journey, one is likely to realize the bigger success that they have had. Much like taking a before, middle and after picture of one’s journey.
Step 5: Reflection
Once one has reached a goal, the feelings of accomplishment and feel good energy are high. But many often forget one important step: reflection. Reflection is important when setting and now reaching a goal as it helps one to understand the “how”. How was your mindset while reaching your goal? How did you make time for this goal? How did you keep going? Reflection helps boost one’s confidence and maintains motivation (Medium). Through reflection, a foundation is built for setting more intentional resolutions and goals in the future. A very cliche but important task is being able to learn from mistakes or areas where improvement can be made either in how you set the goal, how you maintain the goal, or other. Thus, creating a more likely chance for one to be successful when trying to complete another resolution or goal.
Above is only one example of how New Year Resolutions and goals can be set and achieved. In reality there are a multitude of ways to achieve goals and objectives that one has planned. It is never too late to set a goal and work towards it!
