How to Stick to your New Year's Resolution

A few days back, I was out with my friends when I realized that I had a 1000 words paper due the next day. I panicked but told myself that I had three hours to complete it and it won’t be that difficult if I stick to the time. As soon as I reached home, I opened my laptop to start working on my paper, and then I thought that maybe I should first take a short break, browse Netflix for just five minutes and then begin my work. But, before I knew it, I was knee-deep into a newly released Netflix show. And of course, I couldn’t submit my paper the next day since I couldn’t complete it. But believe me, I wanted to complete my assignment and submit it the next day, and that means that my intentions were right. And I had made a proper plan, I had done all my calculations, and had decided that I have to complete the paper within 3 hours. So, if my intentions were correct and my planning was on point, where did I go wrong? I procrastinated.​

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With the new year 2020 coming in, it’ll be a new beginning for all of us. And with a new year comes new year resolutions. Some of us would want to improve upon things that went wrong in the previous year, some would want to achieve what they couldn’t achieve in the previous year and some would want to set new goals. It’s easy to make new year's resolutions since we all know what we want. But the difficult part is, keeping up with them. So, here are a few tips on how to keep up with your new year's resolutions, so that you avoid the mistake that I did.

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• Do not have unrealistic goals – It’s true that you can achieve anything you want but you shouldn’t aim too high and forget reality completely. Set goals that you know are achievable. 
   

• Pick just one resolution-  Richard Wiseman, a professor of psychology suggests that you should pick just one and focus your energies on it rather than spreading yourself too thin among a number of different goals/ objectives.

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• Reach there slowly but steadily – If your goal is to wake up at 5 am every morning and you normally wake up at 9 am, for the first few weeks you must try waking up at 7 am, and then slowly work your way up to 5 a.m. Don’t be too harsh on yourself but don’t let yourself be too laid back either. This way, you won’t be demotivated when you don’t reach there immediately.

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• Tackle one thing at a time and set a time frame – Understand that you cannot achieve everything in the first month of the year, so you shouldn’t get disheartened. Give yourself a time frame to achieve a particular goal in. For example, if your resolutions are to lose weight and travel more, you can dedicate the first three months to hitting the gym and the next three, the summertime, to travel and the rest of the year for the rest of your resolutions. If your resolutions are well-planned, you’re more likely to stick to them.

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• Change one behavior at a time – Unhealthy behaviors develop over the course of time. Thus, replacing unhealthy behaviors with healthy ones requires time. Don’t get overwhelmed and think that you have to reassess everything in your life. Instead, work toward changing one thing at a time.

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• Reward yourself – It’s very important to make yourself feel that you’re proud of yourself. Keep rewarding yourself when you see that you’re going in a positive direction, it’ll help you maintain your spirits and will keep you going.
   

• Renew your motivation-  During the first days of a new year resolution, you will probably be full of energy, highly motivated, and confident about reaching your goal. However, the energy fades away when the struggle to achieve our resolutions starts to hit off. When you face such moments, remind yourself of exactly why you are doing this. What do you have to gain by achieving your goal? Find sources of inspiration that will keep you going when times get tough.
   

• Don't let small stumbles bring you down- Encountering a setback is one of the most common reasons why people give up on their resolutions. If you suddenly relapse into a bad habit, don't perceive it as a failure. Instead, view relapses as learning opportunities.

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It’s difficult to stick to your new year's resolutions but it’s definitely not impossible. If the above suggestions don’t help in making you stick to your resolutions, talk to a loved one and ask for support. They would help you build your resilience and make you feel motivated enough to achieve what you desire.

Have a happy 2020 😊

 

– Mohak 

(HappeeMindz Intern)

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