Tips for Making Your New Year’s Resolutions a Reality

New Year’s resolutions. Just the thought of accomplishing these goals is enough to get millions of people to hit the gym, quit smoking, read more books, or join an online dating site. However, with setting these goals comes the realization that achieving them might not be as realistic as you thought. Too often, people give up on their resolution halfway through their first month of trying. We seem to make the same mistakes over and over, setting ourselves back by making near-impossible goals.

We refuse to accept that we can’t lose 40 pounds in a year, even if we’ve lost zero in the last ten. We convince ourselves that we can quit smoking entirely, despite the fact that we’ve smoked a pack a day since the age of twenty. It’s easy to forget your goal when you overload yourself with expectations. Instead, implement these ideas and tricks into your routine to help make that resolution a reality.

Be Realistic

So many people fail when it comes to their resolutions because their goal is unrealistic. If you’re planning to lose 50 pounds, make a million dollars, buy that new car you want, travel the world, relocate to a new city, and put a down payment on a house, then chances are you are going to lose your mind a month in. When choosing your resolutions, find the thing or the goal that is most important to you and only focus on that one. You don’t have to make a vision board with a hundred different things and expect to reach them all by June. Instead, focus on small goals that help you achieve what you want in the big picture.

Plan and Assess Your Goals Quarterly

Scheduling out a time each quarter or every few months will help you stay on track to reach those goals by the end of the year. So often, people lose sight of their resolutions after a few months because they don’t take the time to check in with themselves and figure out where they are and what they are doing to make those goals happen. Instead, write a quarterly check-in with yourself on the calendar. Having this in place will help you evaluate where you are vs. where you want to be. Don’t forget to give yourself grace! It takes time to make something a part of your life, but you can achieve your resolutions with dedication and a little planning.

Make it a Habit

We are creatures of habit. Most often, we don’t even realize that the things we do are built from patterns we implement in our lives over a period of time. Whether that’s working out, going through our favorite coffee spot every other morning, washing our hair, or writing out to-do lists. We get into the habit and the mindset of doing these things without realizing we’re doing it. The same can be said for achieving our resolutions. If it takes 21 days to make a habit, then push hard for those first few weeks until it becomes a part of your routine. Although it may seem like a challenge at first, pretty soon, you will become accustomed to doing these things on auto-pilot and can make them a part of your everyday life.

Break Your Resolution Down into Smaller Parts

Do you think Olympic athletes were winning gold medals on day one of training? No. It took day after day to achieve small goals that added up to accomplishing the big one. The same can be said for reaching your goals. If losing dozens of pounds is what you want for yourself, don’t expect to drop all of that in the first month. Instead, break it down month by month and set smaller goals for yourself that keep you motivated and driven. If you want to save $5,000 by the end of the year for a trip, don’t put your entire paycheck aside and expect to live off nothing. Instead, try setting aside an amount, week by week, until you hit that financial goal. Breaking your goals up will not only help you feel more accomplished while you’re working towards the end goal, but it will help keep you motivated and focused along the way.

Make It Easier on Yourself

If your goal is to read more, don’t sit down and crack open a 12,000-page monster of a book and expect to get through it in a week. Instead, try reading a chapter a week and keep a book by your bed side to help encourage you to reach for that instead of scrolling through Instagram. If you’re trying to watch less TV, then start hiding your remote. If your resolution is to stop drinking, don’t go meet your friends at a bar. There’s no need to make things harder on yourself during this process. Choose a place and set a plan where you can be successful.