Creating successful New Year’s Resolutions or intention is an excellent way to make changes you’re dreaming of and create a life you love! That doesn’t mean that you must wait until new year’s though… or even Monday! You can make a resolution or change ANY TIME you choose! Why not now??? Follow these simple tips to not only choose your resolution but to also ensure that you accomplish your goals!
Make a Thoughtful or Intuitive Choice
Rather than spending a week or less choosing your New Year’s Resolutions. Or going back to an old standby! Spend some time thinking about your long-term goals! What will it take to get from here to there? In what order do you need to accomplish the steps? Don’t rush it… if you don’t start Jan 1 because you aren’t ready that’s ok! It’s better to take the time you need to set yourself up for success than to quit. Now, when you’re ready… start at step one! Not step 15! And don’t plan to get to step 15 by the end of the year either!
Making your resolution part of the path to your long-term goals helps you stay focused on it long term! You’ll be more successful if you see it as part of a bigger vision or a smaller component that you can cross off a to-do list! Breaking down your long-term goals and creating a path to accomplish them is the best way to get what you want out of life!
Break it down and Make a Plan
Speaking of breaking things down… break your New Year’s Resolutions down too! Don’t expect that you’ll get it all done in one month or wait until the last minute. Make a plan for what you’ll work on each month (or week) to complete what you’ve set out to do!
This will keep you from taking on too much all at once and burning out. Say good-bye to being overwhelmed! Making your resolution more task based also helps give you direction. Few things feel better than clear tangible progress! Each accomplishment catapults you to the next! When you start to build some momentum not only will you stick with it, but you’ll be UNSTOPPABLE!
Pro-Tip: Allow at least 6 weeks in your planning to create a new habit! Don’t rush it!
Review and Adjust Your Plan
How will you ever know if your plan is working and feel that awesome sense of accomplishment if you don’t review your plan? Set a regular day that you go over your plan and make any necessary adjustments. Sometimes people like to do this on Mondays, the last day of the month or once a quarter. I like to do all the above! It’s a lot easier to make little tweaks in the plan if you discover an issue early on.
Perhaps you thought something would take more time to accomplish or less! Adjusting your plan will keep you from feeling overwhelmed or under challenged! By definition, a resolution is a change… this means it’s something new. So, that means you don’t really know how long each of the tasks will take. Being flexible will keep you from being disheartened or bored!
Get Accountability and Support
Find some other likeminded people and get accountability and support! They don’t have to have the same New Year’s Resolutions as you to hold you accountable or offer support!
Friends & Family
Make sure that your friends and family (those nearest and dearest to you) know what your resolution is and are aware of any plans you have. If you can think of specific things, they can do to offer help or support let them know! Would you like a weekly check in? Do you want your mom to stop bringing you fresh baked goods? They won’t know if you don’t tell them!
Daily Support
Involve someone you see regularly! If you don’t see friends or family often but have a co-worker, you feel comfortable with, fill them in! It can be very helpful to have someone we see every day (or regularly) know what we’re up to. They are often our first line of accountability. Even if they aren’t close enough to us to hold our feet to the fire seeing someone every day who knows your goal will often make you feel convicted!
Find a Partner
Find a partner who has a similar goal. Having a workout or study buddy can be very helpful! If someone is counting on you to show up at the gym (and will notice if you don’t) you’re more likely to go. This is also true if you’re both working to complete 20 pages of your novel or organize one room in your house. Even though you aren’t technically doing it together you are both participating. This creates a different level of accountability!
Hire a Professional
If you put your money where your mouth is it might give you some extra motivation to get it done! And a professional can be worth their weight in gold! A personal trainer can keep you on task and help prevent injury so you can stick with your work out plans! A professional organizer can help you develop new systems and keep you from having to move everything 5 times! And a life coach or therapist can help you figure out what’s holding you back, reflect on your true goals and needs and teach you how to accomplish them (among other things).
Online Accountability
Find an online community like my Facebook Group to support and encourage you! You can share tips and struggles and uplift each other any time, day or night! Sometimes it’s easier to be more open and candid via keyboard. We don’t feel as much pressure or embarrassment when we don’t have a personal relationship.
Looking online is a great way to find people to connect with who have similar goals! Just be sure that you are careful when it comes to taking online relationships into real life. Even if you are joining a running club you found online be sure to meet in a public place, make sure someone knows who you’re with and what you’re doing and have a check in time!
SUCCESS!!!
The likelihood of sticking to and accomplishing your New Year’s Resolutions is WAY higher if you follow these tips! Just imagine what it will feel like at the end of the year when you’ve accomplished everything you set out to and then some!!! Can you picture where you will be, what your life will look like and how incredibly proud you will feel? Then, why wait! Start today!!!
Share this! Help others find success with their changes and goals!
