What do you do to stick to your New Year’s Resolution all year? Do you need tips for keeping New Year Resolutions?
New Year’s Resolutions have gotten a bad name over the years.
Hardly anyone seems interested in making New Year’s Resolutions, and if they do, they do so knowing they have no hope of making their resolutions stick.
Keeping your New Year Resolutions? What’s that!?!
So, it’s also not surprising that 80% of New Year’s Resolutions are broken by February, and only 8% of people achieving their New Year’s Resolutions that odds don’t exactly seem to be in your favor.
You might be thinking, “so why bother, right?”
One answer: FOMO (fear of missing out).
Setting New Year’s Resolutions is a 4,000-year-old tradition! We’ve kept doing it for a reason – making New Year’s Resolution is a fun way to start the new year.
Don’t miss out on what could be an incredibly motivating new year tradition to help you set and achieve your goals in 2024.
Yes, you read that right, the RIGHT Resolution can actually help NOT hurt your new year goals setting. If you know how to keep your resolution. Let’s prepare for a successful new year by ensuring we keep our promises to ourselves.
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Why are New Year Resolutions Important?
Unlike what everyone else seems to think about New Year’s Resolutions, I still believe they have incredible value and are a worthwhile new year tradition.
They are a beautiful way to start the new year and a potentially powerful FIRST STEP in your new year goal-setting journey.
The key component, being it’s the first step and NOT THE ONLY step you take to make 2024 your year. The second step is then setting achievable goals that you actually achieve as a way to make your New Year’s Resolution stick.
And, of course, you’ve also taken the time to choose the right Resolution that resolves a great challenge in your life too.
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There seems to be so much backlash against making New Year’s Resolutions in favor of setting goals as if the two can’t positively reinforce each other. It doesn’t have to be either-or, you can set both!
And let’s just be clear, it’s not about WHAT you call it, goals or New Year’s Resolutions, but how you approach it. You can just as easily make a new year’s goal and not achieve it. It’s not calling it “a goal” or “a resolution” that makes or breaks it. But how you approach keeping them makes it so.
How to Keep Your New Year Resolutions:
Whether you’re making New Year’s Resolutions or you’re setting a yearly goal and want to know how to achieve your goals this year, these 12 tips will help you.
Are you stuck on choosing the right resolution? Here’s the ultimate list of unique New Year’s Resolution ideas.
Tip #1: Write Your Resolution Down on Paper
Resolutions, like most “wishes” we make, are often spoken or whispered at “magical” times, like birthdays or midnight on New Years’.
Break the curse of not following through, by writing your New Year’s Resolution on paper.
Writing it down makes it tangible and real to you.
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Find a piece of paper and write down your New Year’s Resolution. You can take this even more seriously by writing it nicely to be displayed in a frame or posted on your wall. You can even use it as the centerpiece of your vision board.
Display your resolution somewhere you can see it daily and meditate on making it a reality.
👉🏽 RELATED POST: How to Create A Vision Board that Works
Tip #2: Make Sure Your Resolution is R.I.G.H.T.
Before you even worry about making your resolution stick, you need to first make sure it’s even the RIGHT Resolution for you.
You know how it is, the New Year approaches, and we can get super self-conscious about our lives and end up making (and then breaking) some of the most common New Year’s Resolutions.
It’s no surprise that the top three resolutions set every year all related to health and fitness: To exercise more, to lose weight, and eat more healthy. We tell ourselves we’ll stop making the same unhealthy lifestyle excuses.
It’s not that there’s inherently anything wrong with these resolutions, just that they can be “shallow” because they hold no deep meaning to us nor do they align with your own true and deepest heart intentions and desires. We just think they do.
👉🏽 RELATED POST: How to Choose the Right New Year’s Resolution
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Evaluate your intended resolution to make sure it’s R.I.G.H.T. Ask yourself these 5 questions:
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- RESOLVE: Does your New Year’s Resolution address your greatest challenge?
- INTUITIVE: Is your New Year’s Resolution a “good fit” for you and your abilities?
- GENUINE: Is this New Year’s Resolution for you? Are you being authentic?
- HOPEFUL: Is the emotional sentiment of your New Year’s Resolution hopeful and positive?
- TRANSFORMATIVE: Is the process of achieving your New Year’s Resolution transformative to you? How?
If your resolution passes this test simple test, you’re more likely to stick to your New Year Resolution.
Tip #3: Set a S.M.A.R.T. Goal for Your New Year’s Resolution
Take your New Year Resolution further still by setting a S.M.A.R.T. goal. The one resolution you should always make is to set goals too.
As we discussed in Tip #1, resolutions are usually just wishes made at midnight, without any real plans, strategies, or timelines for completion. Without goals to back it up, you’ll fail to make your resolutions stick.
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HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Don’t just make a resolution, put it out there for the universe to make it happen. Break the cycle by being S.M.A.R.T. – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Ask yourself:
- SPECIFIC: What exactly do you need to achieve?
- MEASURABLE: How exactly will you measure your progress and success?
- ATTAINABLE: What do you need in order to achieve your goal in life?
- RELEVANT: Why do you want to achieve this goal? Does it fit with your intention?
- TIMELY: What’s your deadline for your goal? Is it achievable?
Just like the test in Tip#2, if your new year goal passes this test too, you’re doubly likely to stick to your New Year Resolution.
So, make it R.I.G.H.T. and make it S.M.A.R.T. goal too!
Tip #4: Select Easy to Reach “Mini” Goals
How do you stay motivated for the entire year to keep your New Year’s Resolution?
Let me introduce you to “mini” goals, which unlike your #1 BIG goal for the year, they’re easier for you to achieve and require less time.
“Mini” goals also provide measurable proof (remember that M in S.M.A.R.T.) that you’re making progress, thus delivering that much-needed boost of confidence that you can reach your BIG goal (and consequently making resolutions stick too – a happy side effect).
👉🏽 RELATED POST: 6 Simple Secrets to Setting Achieveable Goals
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Deconstruct your New Year’s Resolution (now a R.I.G.H.T. and S.M.A.R.T. goal) even further, into smaller goals that you have to meet before you reach your end goal. Set these up as milestones on your way to success.
For example, if your big goal is to start a profitable business in 2024, rather than just having this one goal you would decide what milestones you need to hit each month. Some mini-goals for starting your own business could be, saving seed money, writing a business plan, creating a website, networking, or landing your first client.
Yes, each of these goals can be deconstructed further, but they’re already way much more achievable than your larger goal.
Tip #5: Give Your “Wish” a Deadline
Without a deadline, it’s just a wish. And remember, we’re now setting goals, not making wishes.
You can easily transform any wish (without fairy godmothers or clovers) into an achievable goal by giving it a specific and firm deadline. An end date or due date for success forces you to figure out practically speaking HOW you are going to achieve this goal.
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Select your goal and give it a deadline. Then, strategically plan your way from the end goal, step by step, to where you are now. How much time is realistic? And please avoid the tendency to say by the end of the year. Set “mini” goals and milestones for each quarter or whatever time frame makes sense for your goal. Give each mini-goal its own timeline (more on this in Tip #4).
Tip #6: Stay Motivated by Tracking Your Progress
It’s difficult to stay motivated for the entire year, without any signs of success. That’s where tracking your progress and quick wins come in.
When you’re able to see in black and white that you actually are making progress, you get excited and motivated to keep going. On the other hand, a lack of progress can be one of the biggest motivation killers.
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Once you start building momentum you’ll be keeping your New Year’s Resolutions. This is where the “M,” in SMART goals comes in. It’s not for motivation, but for measurable.
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Figure out your unit of measurement for your S.M.A.R.T. goal. Then start keeping track of your progress in a notebook, daily journal, spreadsheet, or document.
Update it daily or weekly, however often you work on your goal. Some ways of measuring progress include finances (money earned, saved or debt reduced), consumption (what you ate or drank), or time commitment (how many hours, minutes, or days).
Your goal determines how you’ll measure your progress.
Tip #7: Take It One Week at a Time
Don’t worry about making it through the entire year, just focus on making it through today and this week.
With the start of the new year, 12 months can seem like a long time to stick to your resolution. But, what seems like a year of possibility, can easily feel like a year-long jail sentence. The solution is to stick to your New Year’s Resolution for one week at a time.
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HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Start thinking of your resolution or goal as a weekly commitment. What do you have to do today, tomorrow, and only this week to stick to your resolution?
If you want to save $10K in 2024, how much do you need to save this week? Focus your energies on not overspending in your present and let the rest of the 12 months be a concern for later.
👉🏽 RELATED POST: How to Crush Your To-Do List
Tip #8: Celebrate with Rewards Along the Way
As time goes on and the initial excitement wears off, it gets REALLY HARD to keep your New Year’s Resolution. One of the best-kept secrets is creating a system of rewards and celebrations for meeting your “mini” goals.
Hit a major (or even a minor) milestone, awesome, let’s celebrate!
By rewarding yourself, it becomes more about getting to your next reward, and less about all you have to do the get there. Having positive reinforcement for sticking to your unique New Year’s Resolution can encourage you to keep going, even when it gets hard.
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Create a system of rewards and celebrations as you stick to your New Year’s Resolutions throughout the year.
When you hit your “mini” goal, give yourself permission to enjoy yourself. Rewards can include cheat days, date nights, movies, or whatever it is you enjoy (but doesn’t harm your progress towards achieving your New Year’s Resolution too much).
Tip #9: Keep a Journal or Use a Planner
When goal-setting fatigue sets in you’ll want to skip, not do it, and start doubting why you ever picked this resolution or goal for yourself.
From day one, you should build in some internal accountability by starting a daily journal or using a goals planner.
By writing it down on paper you’re more likely to stay on track. And bonus, you’re also making measuring your progress (remember tip #6) that much easier.
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Pick up a pretty new bullet journal or planner and start by writing down your New Year’s Resolution, S.M.A.R.T. goal, and “mini” goals.
Then, daily record what you’ve done to reach your goals, list goal-related to-dos you’ve crushed, and anything about your goals. You can also do this in a Google Doc, EverNote, or whatever works best for you.
Tip #10: Let Others Stop You From Quitting
One of the most common goal-setting mistakes and reasons why New Year’s Resolutions don’t stick is that we never tell anyone!
We keep it to ourselves and then when we feel like quitting, there’s no one there to push us on.
You MUST add in some external accountability too! Recruit your cheering section to help you make your New Year Resolutions stick.
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Share your New Year’s Resolution and goals with your family and friends asking for their support and encouragement. Check in with them regularly and reach out to them when you feel like giving up.
You can take this up a notch by making a public declaration on social media, a blog, or a YouTube channel. It’s amazing how not wanting to disappoint your family, friends or followers can keep you on track.
Tip #11: Find a Partner in Crime
Do you know someone who has made the same New Year’s Resolution or yearly goal as you?
Perfect, let’s make it official by making them your accountability partner.
One of the best ways to make your New Year’s Resolution stick is to have someone with the same challenges, dreams, and hopes as you, by your side.
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HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Start reaching out to your friends and family (which you’re already doing in Tip 10 right!) and see if anyone has a similar goal as you.
If you can’t find an accountability buddy in your immediate circle and reach out to Facebook Groups or other online forums.
No fancy proposals are needed, simply ask if anyone would be interested in being accountability buddies and checking in once a week. Set goals with each other for the next week, then on your call check in to see how you did.
Also, share best practices, resources, tips, and habits for success.
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Tip #12: Create New Habits to Make It ‘Stick’
Rather than seeing all the “mini” goals and to-dos that you need to accomplish this year to meet your New Year’s Resolution, focus on forming a new habit that makes accomplishing your goals easier.
With repetition and rhythm creating the space and time to work on your goal becomes second nature.
Soon you won’t even struggle to get started, you just will because you’ve been doing it for weeks and months. Habits make New Year’s Resolution stick by making it your “new” normal.
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
Create new habits by first choosing a specific time and place for making resolutions stick.
Maybe it’s every Sunday after your favorite TV show or every Tuesday after the gym, in your office, or your favorite coffee shop. By creating a schedule for yourself, you fall into a natural rhythm.
Track your new habit using a daily habit tracker.
For example, if your goal is to eat healthily, change where you shop, and which grocery aisles you walk down – maybe you’ll go through the veggie aisle and walk past the junk food. The first time is hard, the second time easier and before you know it you won’t even see what you can’t have. Focus on creating healthy habits!
👉🏽 RELATED POST: 10 Habits that Teach You How to Be Successful
Take the Quiz – What Should My New Year’s Resolution Be?
Now that you know how to stick to your New Year’s Resolution, are you ready to make your 2024 resolution?
The New Year’s Resolution Quiz helps you discover what area of your life you should focus on + gives you specific resolution ideas.
Sign up below to take the FREE Quiz + get weekly tips to help you slay your goals.
What’s your #1 tip for keeping New Year Resolutions?
Last Updated on December 15, 2023
