How to Make Achievable New Year Resolutions

With the New Year here, we’re all in a mood to change. For some, it can be fitness, habit or a small change like putting your clothes back on the hanger after only trying it! Whatever it is, most of us are experiencing the same ups and downs when it comes to making our resolutions happen. You must’ve heard that more than 50% of our NY resolutions fail within the first few months?

Despite the fact some research shows we’re prone to repeating the same mistakes all over again, there are ways to combat that habit and learn to make better choices. In the end, it all comes down to a simple question — Do you really want it?

In case your answer is yes – awesome, these steps will help you stay on track. Whenever you feel like you’re on the verge of failing, just remember the question, it should give you a boost. 

Make Your Own Resolutions

New Years’ decisions are mostly decided when you’re pressured by all the magazines, tv shows, and media in general. In all that chaos, you have to ask yourself — What do I want?

Your resolution is yours only and nobody should have the power to influence it. In the end – you will be the one delivering it, not them.

Put everything on paper and don’t rush. See what is something you would like to improve in, what your “bad” habits are and how you’d like to get rid of them. 

Set realistic goals

Try not to go overboard. The best way to set manageable goals is to use the SMART method. 

S – Specific 

M – Measurable

A – Attainable 

R – Relevant 

T –  Time-bound

Let’s say that your goal is to eat healthier, using this method, you can easily divide it into smaller and easy to understand tasks.

• Specific – I would like to eat less fried foods and sweets – What is my main goal?
• Measurable – I would like to eat vegetables at least once a day – How can I measure it?
• Attainable – I would like to cook more often – How can I achieve it?
• Relevant – I would like to feel better/reduce bloating/regulate my digestion – Why is it relevant for me?
• Time-bound – I would like to eat healthier by June – By when do I want to achieve it?

Make sure to put everything on paper, it will be a great reminder during hard times. 

Divide the goal into smaller parts

Losing  20 pounds sounds like a lot of hassle and can easily make you give up. That’s why it’s important to think smart and “trick” your brain into thinking it’s easier than it looks. Make your first task to lose 4 pounds till the end of January – it may not sound like much, but it’s a great start! 

Have you ever heard of the 4DX planning? If not, make sure to check it out. It’s one of the most popular planning methods worldwide, used by everyone – from executives to students, teachers, and parents. Its main goal is to ease the planning process and make you realize that all of your goals are comprised out of small everyday tasks you can do without a hassle. By using WIGs (Wildly Important Goals), LEAD measures and LAG measures, every task seems like a piece of cake. 

To simplify it, all you have to do is to choose your WIG (in our case that is eating healthy) and divide it into smaller sections (LEADs) which all contribute to your final goal. That can be eating more veggies, drinking less sugary drinks and not frying your food. The last step is to create specific actions for every week/month/day, depending on the length of your goal.   

For example:

WIG- Eating healthy: 

• LEAD 1 – Drinking less sugary drinks – How to achieve it: One week without juice
• LEAD 2 – Eating more veggies – How to achieve it: Veggies with every meal for 10 days
• LEAD 3 – Not frying my food – How to achieve it: Boiling potatoes or steaming your veggies (without butter) for a week

These tips can help you make your goals more manageable and easier to achieve with just a little bit of preparation. Make sure to write them down and save somewhere privately. They are your personal project for 2022. We hope you fulfill all of your goals!