Almost a month into the new year, and you still haven’t started working out every other day, eating healthier, reading more, saving money, etc. It’s the same new year’s resolution you’ve been trying to achieve for years now, but your ambition to do so lacks the tackiness of consistency and discipline. Your patience runs thin quickly, and the comparison game begins sooner than expected, so you just give up. Before you realize it, it’s a new year and you are faced with the adversity of the new year’s resolution yet again.   

New year’s resolutions can feel overwhelmingly and restraining, but they don’t have to be. People typically find themselves making big resolutions with the hope of completing them in a small amount of time. You, yourself, may not be the reason why you are not able to stick to your new year’s resolutions, instead it may be your approach to these goals. 

Let’s break down how one typically approaches determining and achieving one’s new year’s resolution. Naturally, they start by identifying a problem in their life, like their smoking habits or poor eating habits. They then decide that cutting out this problem entirely or creating an excessive routine to combat the problem is the best way to go about solving that problem. So, on day one of the new year they’ve completely gotten rid of the problem and started excessively start working towards their goals. It all sounds so good and possible, until they find themselves burned out, ready to fall back into their old habits and familiarly comfortable lifestyle. 

There are many tips to help your new year resolution feel less dauting. The first tip is to understand “new year’s resolutions” in a different light. Many people associate these resolutions with this idea of uprooting their routine or bad habits to replace them with a new routine that requires mental or physical productivity. But who said “uprooting” was the best way to approach a new year’s resolution. It doesn’t have to be so clean-cut. You don’t have to go to the gym every day or spend a fortune on healthier food options as soon as the ball drops and the clock strikes 12. You can ease into your new year’s resolution and give yourself some leeway.  

The second tip is having a clear goal. Being as specific as possible when creating your new year’s resolution. That way you can have a specific and clear way to go about completing your resolution. You can plan ahead and identify the exact steps you may need to take to complete your goal. Knowing what you are working towards makes the journey more worthwhile. 

The third tip is “validating even the smallest of accomplishments.” Fulfilling your new year’s resolution is a journey in which you will have to overcome tiny bits of adversity. Acknowledging and validating these tiny wins will motivate you to keep going. Don’t wait until the end of your performance to applaud, instead cheer yourself on along the way.  

This previous tip goes with the third one which is: “create smaller milestones.” This tip is self-explanatory. Do not create milestones that will take you eons to reach. Instead, try pacing your progress by having smaller milestones that are realistic for you to pass in an allotted amount of time. Pacing yourself is a lost cause for new year’s resolutions. People try to do it all at once and end up burning out because they can reach the “finish line.” Give yourself check points to reflect on your progress along the way to completing your resolution.  

The last and maybe most important tip is having a good support group. Pessimistic attitudes are unwarranted, especially during this time of the year. If the people around you are doubting your abilities, they probably aren’t the best people to have around when trying to get rid of an old lifestyle or bad habit. This tip also implies that you be a part of your support group. Do not doubt yourself, instead try speaking words of affirmation to motivate yourself. Ditch the doubt and declare your success. Having a good support group can mean nothing if you don’t believe in yourself.