If you are like many other Americans going into the new year, you have created a list of lofty resolutions for yourself! You are convinced that you will keep these resolutions all year, no matter how out of the ordinary they are for you! You tell yourself that even though you did not complete your resolutions last year, this year will be different, and you will not give up when it begins getting tough only a few weeks in! I’m here to tell you that you are NOT alone! Statistics from UAB Medicine show that out of the millions of Americans who set New Year’s resolutions every year, less than 8% actually stick to them!
There are many different reasons that people don’t stick to their resolutions, but often times it comes down to a few factors. One could be that they set their goals too high and get overwhelmed when it appears they will not be able to complete their resolutions. Another reason could be that they set the resolutions for the wrong reasons, and try to do it it because they believe it is what others think they should do, rather thsn what they want to do for themselves. And one more reason could be that when they set their goals, they were not truly ready to change.
One solution that may help with the chronic failure of New Year’s resolutions is setting New Year’s goals instead! New Year’s goals can be smaller dreams that you can work towards over the year instead of overwhelming resolutions you believe you must achieve or you’re a failure. These goals can be things such as learning to love yourself, working on fixing the relationships in your life, or prioritizing your mental health!
These goals can have a better chance of being successful, because they are aspects of yourself, or things in your life, that you intend to work towards bettering over the year, instead of things that you feel required to complete daily! You are less likely to become discouraged and give up because improving these things is a journey you will go on, but unlike resolutions, there is no set timeline for when you need to have certain things accomplished! You also get to decide how you go about approaching each of these goals, which makes it better suited to be a success!
When creating your list of New Year’s goals, I encourage you to think about at least ten things in your life that you want to be different by the time that January of next year rolls around! Once you have thought of these things, get a piece of paper and label it one through ten (or however many goals you have), then write your goals down as though they are not goals, but things that you already do in your life (I will put an example of my list down below so you can see what I mean)! Once you have created your list, put it somewhere that you will see it everyday so that it can be a constant reminder of the things that you would like to do to become the best version of yourself in this New Year! I hope that you found this article helpful, and that you are able to work towards your New Year’s goals this year instead of being discouraged by your resolutions!
