We are just a few months away from the start of the next year. The start of a new year is exciting with new things to look forward to. It is also the time when people make resolutions for the New Year. It is a different fact that most people fail to implement these resolutions.
To prevent the New Year resolution from becoming a farce, it is important to approach it in a structured way. Our tips in this article will tell you how to make New Year resolutions that are practical and doable. You can also read about how to ensure you keep the resolutions.
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The New Year Resolution
On the first of every year, or rather on the previous day, people make New Year’s resolutions. They resolve to do certain things this year. Most of these are what they planned to do the previous year, but failed to achieve. The most common New Year resolution is to be fit and lose weight.
People also make other resolutions like giving up a bad habit (like smoking), or adopting a healthy lifestyle. Many people even resolve to work harder in their careers or improve their personal relationships. While making resolutions is easy, keeping them or implementing them is the problem.
This is why most New Year resolutions fail. People follow up with enthusiasm in the first month. Soon, their interest wanes due to other preoccupations or due to the fact that they know they can’t achieve what they wanted to do. The secret behind achieving your New Year resolution is to make a resolution that is practical and can be implemented.
How to make practical and achievable resolutions?
When you are making a New Year resolution, you are essentially setting one or many goals to achieve for the year. A key tip that will help you set goals the right way is to set SMART goals. Here is what this means:
Specific
The goal you set must be specific and clear. For example, if you say you want to spend more time with family it is a good goal but not specific. You can make it more specific by saying you want to have a minimum of one family dinner and one outing per month. This is a specific goal that you can look forward to achieving.
Measurable
Losing weight is the most common resolution people make. But this is again a vague goal. You need to make it more clear by making your goal measurable. How much weight will you lose? The answer to this question will help you make your goal measurable. You can say you want to lose 10% of weight or a specific number (15 pounds). This ensures greater clarity.
Actionable
Every goal you set should be achieved through an action plan. Your goal should be such that you should be able to create an action plan from it. If you say, you want to give up smoking as a goal then you need to be able to set an action plan for it. If you make it specific by saying, you will reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke to 2 per day, then it is clear. You can work on this goal and make an action plan.
Realistic
There is no use setting goals that cannot be achieved. For instance, if you say that you will lose 20 pounds of weight in one month, it seems like a goal that cannot be achieved. Such goals will demotivate you and make you give up on setting goals. So, always set goals that are realistic and practical.
Time-bound
There is no use in setting a goal unless there is a deadline or time limit for it. For example, the goal of losing 10% of the weight is great. But what is the time frame? 3 months, 6 months, a year? Without a timeframe, it is like swimming in the sea without knowing where to go. Fixing a time or deadline makes your goal achievable and practical.
In Conclusion
When you make your New Year resolution using the SMART concept explained above, your resolutions would be practical and achievable. Such resolutions are those which you can easily achieve. Write the resolutions and stick them on your notice board at the workplace or at home in a place where you can see them.
This will inspire you to put in the effort to achieve your goals. Do this and you will find that you can keep the New Year resolutions that you make. Try it out and you will be pleasantly surprised at how easily you can keep your resolutions.
