“The only thing that will help you accomplish your goals in 2016 and improve your life is your will to make sh*t happen. And you’re only driven to accomplish things when you know — through and through and through — that it’s something you really want.”
– Maya Kachroo-Levine, “Be Honest About What You Really Want Out Of This Year”
When it comes to New Years Resolutions most of the time it goes something like this: you start out the year ambitious as ever, ready to create a “new you” and make some real changes in your life! You come up with some goals, write them down, and create a plan on how you’re going to accomplish them. During the first two weeks of the New Year you follow your game plan down to a tee and are so proud of yourself for following through! During the third week you start to get a little busier and more distracted, so you start to slack off. You begin to lose your ambition and determination that were so strong at the start of the year. The following weeks result in more stuff to do, less time for yourself, and an increasing amount of slacking on your goals. By February you have almost stopped thinking about them completely.
Here’s the thing about resolutions: if it is something you want more than anything, that you really believe you can accomplish, your motivation will never run dry. Often times we think of the new year as a fresh start; a chance to reinvent ourselves. So we make lists of all the ways we can do that- eat healthier, work out more, complain less, be a better person, etc. In the beginning we’re filled with utter motivation to be our best selves and chase our goals to the finish line. However as time goes on reality sets in, and accomplishing all of our goals starts to seem a little far fetched. So one by one we let go of our resolutions, barely remembering what they were when the end of December hits. The reason for that is because the goals we put in place were never things we wanted that badly.
If we want to start out the new year with resolutions that we can realistically make progress towards, they have to be things that we will fully commit to. If one were to make a resolution that they would procrastinate less this year, they would need to think hard about why they want to do this and how, if accomplished, this would benefit them. They would have to come up with a plan of action that is realistic and achievable. They would need to recognize and constantly remind themselves that by working hard to accomplish this goal, they really are improving themselves and changing their life for the better. They would have to possess a lot of will power and determination to succeed. They would have to want it; and I mean really want it, to be able to stick with and fight for it for twelve straight months.
The problem with New Years Resolutions is that a lot of people go about them the wrong way. You are not a failure if you can’t accomplish twelve different resolutions you put in place. You are human and you can only handle and achieve so much. That is not to say one shouldn’t dream big; it just means that sometimes focusing on a few things that you really want can get you farther than focusing on a lot of things that you sort of want. On the other hand, you are also not a failure if you can’t fully accomplish the one goal you put in place that you worked hard for. Not putting too much pressure on yourself is an important factor in maintaining your confidence and motivation to keep going. What matters in the end is that you tried. You put in the time, the effort, and the commitment into working towards this goal. You realized how badly you wanted it, and you fought hard. You cared enough to stick with it and that’s more than most people can say. At the end of the day when it comes to resolutions all we can really hope for is improvement. After all, who says the deadline for accomplishing your goals is one year? It’s taken the US centuries to get to where we are now and we are still far from perfect. Progress is the key to success. Every little bit of improvement counts. As long as you are willing to stick with it.