Every year millions of Americans and people around the world decide to improve their lives and set goals for upcoming year. Majority of New Year’s resolutions don’t get accomplished though. We’ve put together a list of things you can do to improve the chances of you reaching your goals this year.
- Make only few resolutions
People that have pages after pages of goals for the new year will have a lot harder time accomplishing them. Try to focus on few areas of your life and improve those. After you are done with that you can set additional goals. There is no bigger deterrent than getting overwhelmed with your goals. - Be specific
Saying that you want to loose weight is to vague. Try setting a specific goal that can be measured. For example loosing 10 lb. by June. Another example is volunteering 3 hours every month instead of “become a better person”. If you can measure results you will know that you were able to achieve that goal. - Set smaller goals/be reasonable
When you look at your goals you should not be thinking they are unachievable. If you set a goal of loosing 100 lb by December you are setting yourself up for failure. Try being a little more reasonable with the goals you set. For example try loosing 5 lb in January. - Choose goals that are important to you.
You are going to be a lot less likely to achieve a goal if you are trying to please some one else. If you don’t think that your weight is a problem, trying to loose it because your spouse thinks you are overweight will not be motivation enough to loose any significant amount. - Write it down
Make sure you write down your goals. Research showed that you are more likely to accomplish something if its written down. - Check your goals often
Just writing something down won’t keep you motivated. After you write your goals down, post them where you are able to see them. Check your goals and your progress often. - Reward Yourself
Reward yourself for accomplishing milestones of your goals. That could keep you motivated. Don’t reward yourself with food if your goal is to loose weight. - Tell Others
Tell your friends and family about your goals. Tell them to check in with you. Or put your money where your mouth is and write a check for a significant amount of money and give it to your family or friends with a permission to cash it if you don’t accomplish your goal. - Take Action
Writing stuff down is nice, but unless you get off your butt and start doing something you will not get very far.