How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

Almost everybody makes at least one New Year’s Resolution on January 1st, and then, as the weeks go by, inevitably the resolutions get more and more difficult to keep, and end up falling by the wayside. As we enter the third week of the month, chances are you might find yourself in this exact predicament. You are not alone, this happens to most people, and can result in people choosing to give up on making change at all.

Structuring Your New Year’s Goals

Failure to attain a goal does not mean that YOU are a failure, you just need some help structuring your goals. In this article you are going to find some ideas and helpful hints to help you create goals that are structured and attainable. A trick to formulating goals that are functional for you is using the acronym SMART for goal setting. SMART stands for:

S — Specific — What do you want to achieve?

M — Measureable — How are you going to know you achieved your goal?

A — Action Oriented — What steps are you going to take?

R — Rewarding — What are you going to get out of this?

T — Time based — By what date are you going to accomplish this by?

Setting Goals Increases Motivation

Why set goals anyway? Research shows that setting a goal actually increases motivation, and also increases motivation. If you define the steps needed to achieve an overarching goal, you are far more likely to attain the big goal than if you hadn’t broken it down.

Next, consider your investment in the goal itself, ask yourself why and clearly define what motivates you. Maybe it is your health, your family, your future, your pet, or your career that motivates you. Whatever it is, find a way to remind yourself of this factor regularly and you will be on your way to success! Perhaps you put a sticky note somewhere you pass frequently with a gentle reminder, or you write yourself a loving note on the bathroom mirror at home, or set a reminder alarm in your phone to go off at intervals throughout the day.

Checking in With Your Progress

Checking in with your progress is also important. Depending on the time estimate for achieving your goal, checking in with progress might be something that happens weekly or even monthly. Be kind to yourself and give yourself credit for what has been achieved, every step in the right direction counts. Keep in mind that sometimes we need to reevaluate or reformulate our goals along the way. This does not mean a failure, this means you are acting in favor of your goals and being SMART about it!

If you have questions or would like some help with goal formulating and motivation, give us a call. Any of our staff members can assist you, and would be happy to do so.

Happy New Year, from all of us at the CAI Team!