New Year, New You: 7 Steps for Keeping Your Resolutions on Track

It’s a week into the new year. How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions?

Do you tend to start out the year with good intentions that fall by the wayside as the weeks go by? Have you given up on making resolutions because they never end up coming to fruition? Even with best intentions, resolutions without a clear direction can quickly get derailed.

Investing a few minutes now by defining what you want and making a plan to carry it out can really pay off in the future. The following 7-step process of setting goals allows you to clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, use your time and resources productively, and increase your chances of achieving what you want in life.

1. Reflect on your values. Take a few minutes to think about what is important in your life. List your values in order of priority. Areas (among many others) may include:

  • Family
  • Career/school
  • Financial success
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Personal development
  • Community involvement

For more about values, check out MindTools

2. Identify your goals. Based on your values, pick one or two areas that you want to work on. State your goal as a positive statement and make sure it is action-oriented (e.g. “Set aside 3 hours per week to play with my kids” instead of “work less.” Start small and be realistic. Small steps allow you to see progress faster, which will feed your motivation to keep setting and accomplishing new goals. This adds up to big changes over time! To help with motivation, put the steps you will take into your calendar, and set a deadline to achieve your goal.

The concept of SMART goals is the most widely-used acronym-based goal setting technique. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. For more on setting SMART goals, check out this post.

3. Deal with obstacles. Identify anything that may get in the way of you keeping your resolution, and deal with it right off the bat. Do you need to replace your running shoes? Find babysitting? Or maybe you have a friend or family member who would prefer you maintain your old habits and may get in the way of the changes you want to make. Come up with a plan for dealing with any obstacles before they keep you from achieving your goals.

4. Create accountability. Talking to others about your resolutions makes them feel more real. Consider asking for others’ support, or even inviting them to participate in your activities with you. Set up a meeting with a mentor, coach, doctor or trainer. Having others’ support can help with focus, identifying areas for improvement, checking in on progress, or getting back on track if you’ve fallen off the wagon.

5. Organize your environment to facilitate implementing your goals. Write your goals down and post them in visible places around your home and/or office. If your goal is to exercise more, keep your work out equipment easily accessible rather than stowed in a basement cupboard. If you want to change your eating habits, make sure you have healthy snacks visible.

6. Get started right away! The key to achieving your goals is to just DO IT! Don’t wait for the motivation to come before you act. Take action, and motivation will follow.

7. Reward yourself. Each time you achieve a step toward your goal, treat yourself to something you enjoy. Take yourself to a movie, have a relaxing bubble bath, buy yourself a book you’ve been thinking about. Additionally, consider keeping a daily journal of small steps you took to work toward your goals. Rewarding yourself will keep you feeling positive and motivated. Remember, if it’s not fun, it’s not sustainable!

Have fun working toward your goals and creating your best life! I’ll write again in a month to check in on where you’re at with your resolution, and tips for maintaining motivation and dealing with set backs.