20 tips to help you keep your New Year’s resolution

There’s some serious science behind writing down goals and achieving them. It’s such an easy thing to do, but it makes a huge difference. By writing down your New Year’s resolution, you’ll already be well on your way to keeping it. 

Part of the reason so many fail at their New Year’s resolution is that people too often choose something that isn’t realistic. Rather than aiming to read 100 books this year when you read one last year, aim for 10 so you don’t get overwhelmed. 

New Year’s resolutions are often chosen just for the sake of choosing one, and typically at the last minute. If you’re serious about keeping your resolution, pick one ahead of time so you can do the work to set yourself up for success. 

Again, so many resolutions are chosen just for the sake of choosing one. Rather than picking a stereotypical resolution, choose one that would actually be a goal of yours if you were choosing it at another time in the year. 

When goals aren’t specified, they’re much harder to achieve. Rather than saying you want to get healthier, pick a specific area of your life that you want to focus on, like your diet, and resolve to incorporate more vegetables into your dishes. 

Change doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s much harder to stick to that change if you do a complete overhaul. If your goal is to quit smoking, don’t quit cold turkey. Take small steps to quitting so that you’re more likely to stick with it. 

Sharing your resolution with others is another good way to ensure you stick to it. You don’t have to ask them for encouragement (though you certainly can), but telling people often serves as motivation to come through. 

If you do want some outside motivation, find an accountability partner for your goal. Your partner doesn’t need to have the same goal as you. Heck, they don’t even need to have a goal. They just need to be willing to send reminders and encouragement. 

If it helps to find someone who has the same New Year’s resolution, do that. This person isn’t necessarily an accountability partner, more just a person you can commiserate or swap tips with. And if your resolution is task-based, like working out more, you can do that together. 

As you’re working toward your goal, reward yourself for your progress. Buy yourself a treat. Let yourself indulge in a guilty pleasure. Don’t choose something that will derail your progress, but make sure you celebrate your wins. 

Goals are achieved when you’re reviewing your progress and keeping your eye on the prize. To stick to your New Year’s resolution, check in with yourself regularly — at least once a month. Review what you did well and where you could improve. 

As cheesy as it sounds, those who find success are the ones who are willing to try again after failures. If you miss a workout, don’t beat yourself up. Just resolve to make the next one. Failures happen. Give yourself grace and move on. 

It can be easy to get wrapped up in the idea of what your life will be like if you achieve every New Year’s resolution imaginable, but trying to make multiple major changes at once will only result in failing at all of them. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Focus on one resolution and achieve that before bringing in another. 

When planning how to achieve your New Year’s resolution, analyze what hasn’t worked for you in the past. If you know that setting a goal to eat every meal at home has resulted in eating most of your meals out instead, allow yourself to have one meal out per week.  

You’ll find more success with your New Year’s resolution if you work it into your existing life rather than trying to create a new life around your goal. If your resolution is to read more, download a book on your phone and read while you’re on your ride to work rather than scrolling social media. 

Anything worth having doesn’t come overnight. Pace yourself in achieving your goal. Focus on small steps, celebrate your wins, and keep going. A New Year’s resolution should be something you’re working on well into the year. 

This won’t work for everyone, but there is research to support that punishing yourself (within reason) can motivate you to stick to your goals. If you have a reward in mind and don’t meet your goal, don’t reward yourself. 

Achieving your New Year’s resolution is a result of good planning. Consider obstacles to achieving your goal ahead of time, and make a plan to succeed despite them. If your goal is to write a book and you have a week-long tropical vacation scheduled, plan to write on the plane or increase your weekly word count in the weeks leading up to your trip so you can unplug while you’re on vacation without losing progress. 

New Year’s resolutions shouldn’t be punishments. They should be something that makes your life better. Remember to have fun in achieving your goal. You’ll be far more likely to stick with it if you’re enjoying yourself. 

Keep a positive attitude while working toward your New Year’s resolution. It’s easier said than done, but reminding yourself that you’re totally capable of whatever you set your mind to will make all the difference.