The Real Secret To Achieve Your New Year’s Resolution
For most of us, January is an exciting time to start fresh, set new goals, and say hello to new habits and lifestyles. We write down our New Year’s resolution, we share them with our friends, and we shout it out loud on social media.
Then comes February… And we ask ourselves, where did our New Year’s resolutions go? It’s not that we didn’t want to achieve our resolution, it’s that we often don’t set ourselves up for success, to begin with. So how can we maintain those goals throughout the entire year?
Typically, our New Year’s resolutions revolve around the idea of creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Exercising, eating well, and taking care of our mental health. First things first, let’s get back to the basics and then we’ll build from there.
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Plan Your Route
You can translate your New Year’s resolution into a SMART goal so that it’s Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic, and so that there’s a Timeframe. Beyond that, you can break down your SMART goal to incorporate smaller milestone goals. Why is this important? Well, it’ll help keep you on track so that you have something to work towards each month. Not only that, but it gives you the opportunity to celebrate your success each step of the way.
Our Goal Setting Worksheet is the perfect way to set up your New Year’s resolution so that you actually see the benefits of it throughout the year.
2. Announce Your Commitment
Having accountability will keep you on track and it makes it easier for you to recruit friends and family for support along the way. Share your goal on your social media, blog, tell your friends, heck – shout it from the rooftops if you want to! By announcing it, you set a level of accountability and take it from the abstract to the tangible.
3. Recruit Your Support Team
You’ll need motivation, encouragement, resources, and maybe some tough love along the way. Be sure to ask key players for exactly what you’ll need. Task your mom with daily encouragement, your best friend with a butt-kicking when you need it, and your Personal Coach with inspiration if you get bored.
You can even add inanimate objects to your support team! In the past, we’ve found huge success by writing our goals down on a whiteboard that we see daily, setting reminders on our phone, and by using a Passion Planner to keep us on track. All of these things can act as your extra support team to give you motivation and encouragement along the way.
4. Make Your Goal a Habit
You need to turn your life goals into daily habits. A routine is something you do every day without fail, so that eventually, like brushing your teeth or putting on your seatbelt, you do it without conscious thought. Habits can be tricky to create, but not if you use the Compound Effect. The compound effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. You’ll find success in the moment to moment decisions that alone, make no visible difference whatsoever. But as you accumulate those habits by starting small and building off of them, the compounding effect is profound.
5. Create If / Then Plans
For most of us, it’s our human nature to love plans. Seeing success from your goal means more than just focusing on the goal. Think of a few potentially tough situations you may encounter in the first month (a party, getting sick, heavy workload) and how you’ll handle them using the “if/then” structure. “IF I get sick and I’m unable to workout twice, THEN I’ll make sure I’m in bed by 8 pm all week and schedule a light workout for the first day that I’m feeling better.”
Don’t get down on yourself and drop your resolution altogether if you fall off the track. Regroup, look at your SMART Goal Worksheet, follow your If / Then Plan, and start back as soon as you can.
It’s an exciting time of year, and one of the best ways to kickstart it is to join our 20 for 20 Challenge. Beginning January 11, 2018, you’ll get 20 days of 20 workouts and challenges, delivered straight to your inbox. We’re packing the challenge full of motivation & education to start your year off fresh.
