Maintaining your New Years Resolutions.
The New Year is starting to lose it’s new year sheen, and most likely, so are those resolutions. It’s okay though, we’ve found a few tips by Jen A. Miller at NYTimes to avoid failing this year.
FIrst off, it makes sense to check that your resolutions are (and its still ok to change them, in our book) right for you. Ensure that they are:
Not too vague
A resolution you came up with that suits you, not one that someone or a group of people have lumped upon you because they think it would help. If that did happen and it does help your life, please disregard this point.
You don’t have a plan for achieving the resolution.
Now that you’ve fixed up your resolutions a bit - its time to make sure they are crafted to give you the best chance at achieving them. Your goals should fit the good old SMART acronym.
S - Specific. Following on from the above point about being to vague, your resolutions should be made to be clear enough that you have a clearly defined target you want to hit. For example, instead of wanting to lose weight, make your resolution to lose five kilos.
M - Measurable. Track data, break the overall resolution down into planned steps, tick boxes as you achieve a stage. Make sure you have some sort of way to track what you’ve done, so that you can get that feeling of accomplishment, and reinforce that you’re making progress (also good to look back on after you’ve achieved your goal)
A - Achievable. Probably one of the main culprits in determining our motivation to achieve a goal or resolution is its level of achieve ability. If it’s too far away, you’ll run out of energy before you get there, or if its way above your means to actually achieve, it’s probably not worth pursuing as a resolution. For example, becoming a successful Youtuber and quitting your job might be a stretch if you’ve never made a video, but making videos on the side while having a job might be fun and eventually turn into a good side money-maker.
R - Relevant. Think about whether your resolutions are good for who you really are. If you made them while emotional, or out of negative views on your self or your situation - it’s probably going to be hard to maintain them. Also, if the goal doesn’t really reflect your aims and instead you found a very general one while scrolling through Facebook, it probably won’t last long.
T - Time-bound. Have a timeline, or duration for your resolutions. These deadlines can act as motivators and help you to aim for something whilst also aiding you with organizing yourself to achieve your goal by that time. Timing helps when you’re breaking down your resolutions into smaller goals as well, and when evaluating achieve-ability.
We here at SJC hope these tips help you along your way to achieving your resolutions, and hope that not only in achieving them, but in striding towards them, that you have a positive impact on your life and the lives of others.