With 2019 right around the corner, you’re probably thinking about the New Year’s resolutions that you want to make. As the calendar resets to January, we often find ourselves wanting to reset our habits as well. Whether you want to work out more, eat more healthily, grow spiritually, or make more money, a New Year’s resolution could be the jump start that you need to make the life changes that you desire.
However, you’ve probably noticed that year in and year out, you make resolutions in January, only to fall short of your goal soon after. Personally, I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution for that exact reason. One of my life mottos (I have a few) is “why put off ‘til tomorrow what I can do right now?” This mindset forces me to make shorter-term goals rather than year-long resolutions, and guess what? On average, I fulfill about 75% of my monthly goals each month! I don’t know about you, but that success rate makes me really happy! So, in this post, my goal is to help you revamp your New Year’s resolution strategy to a monthly resolution rather than a yearly resolution so that this year you can achieve the majority, if not all, of your goals!
Below, I’ve shared my goal setting hacks with you to help you stay on track to achieving your New Year’s resolutions.
How to Achieve your New Year's Resolutions
STEP 1
Set a broad, long-term goal for the year
STEP 2
Break down your large goal into smaller goals
STEP 3
Assign a feasible number of those smaller goals to each month of the year
STEP 4
Halfway through January, check in on your monthly goals to see if you’re on track
STEP 5
Readjust behaviors and/or goals as needed to help you meet your goals for January
STEP 6
At the end of January, audit your progress on goals for the month and reset goals for February as needed
STEP 7
Repeat Steps 4-6 for each subsequent month
Example of one of My Month-Based New Year's Resolution
STEP 1
Set a broad, long-term goal for the year — I will prioritize spiritual, mental, and physical wellness this year.
STEP 2
Break down your large goal into smaller goals — I plan to resume working out regularly for ALL of 2019.
STEP 3
Assign a feasible number of those smaller goals to each month of the year — I will start the year with a 50 Days No Excuses Challenge and complete one challenge each quarter.
STEP 4
Halfway through January, check in on your monthly goals to see if you’re on track — I plan to use daily Instagram Story posts to keep me accountable for 50 straight days of exercise.
STEP 5
Readjust behaviors and/or goals as needed to help you meet your goals for January — I have a bank of workouts to choose from for the days I want to go H.A.M. versus the days that I need to have an active rest day.
STEP 6
At the end of January, audit your progress on goals for the month and reset goals for February as needed — I want to lose the 5 lbs I've gained over the past few months, mostly as a result of stress eating. Through exercise and diet changes, I will aim to lose 1-1.5 lbs per week.
STEP 7
Repeat Steps 4-6 for each subsequent month — This particular goal of 50 Day Challenges will be quarterly, but I plan to continue to exercise regularly in between the challenges.
Other Goal-Setting Tips
In addition to the month-based New Year's resolution tips above, I want to leave you with a couple other general goal-setting tips.
1. "Failing to plan is planning to fail."
This saying is not a new one, but its message is too important for me to exclude. You can create a New Year's resolution using steps 1-7 above, but if you don't make an actual plan to complete your goal, you're setting yourself up for failure. I'll use my workout example to illustrate this: I could have all the intentions in the world to complete 50 days straight of exercise, but if I didn't have easy access to a gym, workout clothes, and a plan of what exercise regimens I will complete, it would be very easy for me to find excuses to not work out. So, whatever your goal is, make sure that you put measures in place to help you succeed at completing your goal.
2. Get a planner!
Days that I forget to bring my planner with me, I often feel lost as to what I'm supposed to do. My planner helps me to keep my goals top of mind from day to day. Without my planner, it's very easy for me to lose focus of my priorities. There are two main types of planners that I find useful. During my more creative times, I find bullet journals to be the most helpful. Bullet journals also help in a crunch, when I need to remain task oriented. Bullet planners work better to help me stay on track of my big picture goals.
BULLET JOURNAL
A bullet journal doesn't have much structure. It provides you with the space to create a plan in the organizational manner that works best for you. I end up using this type of planner to make lists when I have a lot that I need to get done. I also use the bullet journal planning method when I'm brainstorming or strategizing for different projects that I'm working on.
