Given up on your New Year’s resolutions already?
Forgot to make resolutions for the new year?
Here are some ideas about how to make lasting resolutions for 2019.
For many, January 2nd marks the day that new years resolutions go out the window. Whether it be falling short on exercise plans, finishing off the rest of the holiday cookies, or buying that sweater you don’t need- new years resolutions so often go down the drain before they really start.
Some of the most popular new year’s resolutions include lifestyle goals like exercising more, eating healthy, saving money, reading more, traveling, spending more time with family, and personal growth goals like managing stress and learning a new skill. These resolutions may sound simple, so why is it that a mere 46 percent of people are successful in their new year’s resolutions according to a study published by Journal of Clinical Psychology?
One of the most common reasons for failure is simply setting unrealistic goals. More often than not, creating a laundry list of things to immediately do better at makes one too overwhelmed to follow through with them. Instead, try approaching new years resolutions as a progression of the things you did well at in 2018, and an improvement of the things you did not so well at. This requires some self-reflection of how the past year played out which may uncover more meaningful ideas for self-improvement rather than going with the mainstream resolutions like those listed above.
Reflect first on the things that you did well in 2018. Maybe you made a new friend or did a good job of completing your Spanish vocabulary homework every night leading you to receive an A on the final. To build off of these accomplishments, make a resolution to strengthen your new friendship by spending more time with them, and further your achievements in Spanish class by asking your teacher for additional study material. These goals may require more reflection and thought, but they will likely be more meaningful and easier to follow through with because they are building off of previous successes.
Next, reflect on the things that didn’t go so well for you in 2018. Perhaps you were cut from the soccer team, or you were unable to go on that road trip with your friends because you saved that English project for the night before. Improvements could be made by committing to practicing soccer on weekends to keep up your skills for next year’s season, and commit to starting English essays the day they are assigned and continue to work on it a little each day so that it’s not all left for a single weekend when fun events are happening.
Building off the successes of 2018 will allow you to create more specific and personal resolutions for the new year that you are more likely to stick to. Likewise, doing some self-reflection about things you didn’t do well will allow you to make lasting resolutions for improvement.
