Staying on track with your New Year’s Resolutions

Every year an estimated 13.5 million people in the UK make New Year’s Resolutions, however only 8-12% of these people actually keep them. So what is holding you back from sticking to what you say you’re going to do?

In order to be successful, resolutions need to be specific. If you’re not specific enough then you may become unsure what it really is that you are working towards, or you may not hold yourself accountable and ‘bend’ the goal. It is also important to make sure that the resolutions you set for yourself are realistic, and this will mean different things for different people. For someone who commutes to their 9-5 job, its likely to be unrealistic to say they will go to the gym every weekday for an hour and a half. Instead, exercising for 30 minutes on a Tuesday and Thursday is much more realistic, and when they achieve this they will feel motivated to continue. For more about how to set effective goals, check out our previous blog post ‘New Year’s Resolutions and Fitness Goals’.

Ultimately everyone who doesn’t stick to their New year’s resolutions lose their motivation. Two main reasons for this is that the resolutions they have made are doing something that they don’t want to do, and because they have worded their resolution negatively. A lot of people setting their resolutions will focus on what they are going to stop doing, rather than focussing on the positive (what they are going to start doing instead). For example, after Christmas a lot of people will say they are going to eat less chocolate, but instead this could (and should!) be worded as ‘I’m going to eat more fruit and vegetables so that I have my 5-a-day’

So what can you do to help keep you on track to achieve your New Year’ Resolutions?

Make a plan- If you have a resolution but do not plan on how you will achieve it, the likelihood is that you won’t succeed. Take time to plan out all the key ‘milestones’ you need to reach along the way, why they are important, and when you will have time to do what is needed. Having everything planned out will help to keep you on track.

Start small- At the beginning of the year, when your motivation is high, it can be easy to be a little over ambitious with your New Year’s Resolutions. The reality is that very few people can successfully make multiple significant changes to their life successfully at the same time. In order to remain consistent and make a lasting change, focus on only one or two resolutions, and make sure you start small!

Find a friend- Having a friend working towards the same goal will help you to hold yourself accountable, and motivate you. When trying to achieve something by yourself it can be easy to become side tracked, or to be lenient and give yourself days off for no reason. A partner can also help to instil a competitive streak in you, and help push yourself to do better.

Make it fun- Who wants to do anything when they know it’s going to be boring? Rather than doing the same thing day in, day out, try to change what you are doing to achieve your goal. For example, if your New year’s Resolution is to go to the gym twice a week for an hour, don’t just do the same thing each time, vary the exercises you do in order to keep yourself interested.

Remember the reason why you set the resolution- Remember why you made the resolutions you have- ‘I want to go to the gym twice a week for an hour, because it will help me to get stronger’. Reminding yourself of why you are doing something, and seeing the bigger picture and longer term goals, will help keep you motivated to keep going.

Be prepared for obstacles- Very few long term plans will go 100% as you expected and change can be difficult for anyone. Try and think of things which may prevent you from doing what is needed to keep on track with your resolution, and then how you can overcome these. For example, if you need to get up early, but know that the snooze button on your alarm usually looks very appealing, perhaps going to bed a little earlier will help you to get up on time.

Congratulate yourself when things are going well- Don’t be afraid to reward yourself. When you make it to one of the milestones you had planned, allow yourself to celebrate. It can be difficult to stick to resolutions, so to make it through your plan and see success will help to motivate you. Sometimes even when things don’t work out it’s important to see the positives, simply trying and giving something new a go is worth celebrating.

If you need a helping hand to keep on track with your New year’s resolutions, contact us