Every year, January is the time to make new resolutions. However in general this rarely works. A study shows that by the 15th of January people tend to give up on their resolutions. The main reason is that people find it too difficult or simply lose motivation. I agree that it’s quite difficult to commit to a new habit; it’s truly challenging!
For years I have tried to start new habits but it used to end in a failure. It changed when I discovered the reasons why I failed. I simply failed because I didn’t plan the how to implement of my new resolutions. It was just a wish and then I tried to make changes in my life without planning it and without having a real motivation to do it. For instance, losing weight was always a failure because I never prepared my food in advance and didn’t assess my progress. Few years ago I decided to improve the way I work, so and plan it like any project. I set my vision, I plan it, and carry out it step by step.
Here I am going to share my strategies to succeed in your New Year Resolution.
1. Set Your Goals & Visualise The end Result
Set your goals and keep the end result in mind. By setting goals you take the decision to commit on your new task. It allows you to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve.Tell yourself what you gonna get from this new resolution, what excites you about this new challenge. Visualise yourself once you’ve achieved your goals. For instance, imagine how you would look like once you lose that weight, how would you feel once it’s achieved.
2. Plan of action & Deadline
Plan your actions by making a list of all tasks you need to take to achieve your New Year resolution. Write down your monthly, weekly or daily tasks. Set yourself deadlines for each activity. This action plan should include small steps to accomplish your tasks at a specific point in time. Making a plan helps you to carry on your progress without stressing out. This gives you more chance to succeed. You will be more organised as you will have a clear strategy. Try to set those steps on a specific chronology so that you do small tasks on a daily basis to get closer to your goals. Just do your best to respect the deadline.
3. Set Achievable Objectives
Make sure you set achievable objectives. Make sure they are measurable, and specific. I would recommend you to use SMART as a tool to make sure that your goals are easily achievable. If you set yourself too challenging tasks, you are not going to feel any pleasure completing them, neither will you meet your goals and you will just quit and feel disappointed. Make sure you take the actions one at a time and do not try to skip some steps. It will be a burn out and it is a sure road for failure. Just take your time and you will get there. Be patient!
4. Why You’re Doing it?
Besides the planning I discovered that it’s important to know why we are doing what we are doing. So If you have decided to lose some weight, tell yourself why you want to lose weight, or if you want to start a new qualification make sure you know why you are doing it, what this will bring you. Knowing why you are doing it helps you to carry on. It helps you to find motivation when the tasks because tough. When you meet challenges you need to have a real motivation and the WHY!! It helps you to carry on. Sometimes it’s better to postpone a new project until you have a proper reason to do it, so that you would avoid disappointments if it fails. So make sure you know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Making any changes in life is difficult and you have to make sure you have a real reason to do so.
5. Write It Down
Writing has a positive effect on the mind; writing helps you to focus and make it happen. Write your goals, write your own step-by-step plan and record your progress. Write down your goals and what you exactly want to achieve. Writing help us to commit to our goals, help us to visualize and map our activities. Personally I always keep a notepad with me at all time. I jot down all new ideas, and I even write monthly activities, plan, and I review my progress. So just Write down the necessary steps and the tools and methods you need to achieve your new year resolution.
6. Review & Track Progress
Keep track of your progress. Record your weekly, monthly or daily activities. If you have decided to lose weight and write down the number of kilos you lose per week or per month. Or if you have decided to learn a new skill write down you progress, such as the number of new words you have learnt, or the knowledge you gain in three months. Keeping track of your progress helps you to measure your work. By Seeing some improvement you are more willing to carry on. Alternatively, if you do not see any progress you can reassess your strategy and improve it. Review your progress against your aimed results. Check any area to change.
7. Don’t Give up!
Just don’ t give up carry on! Even though you lose motivation for a week, start again. It’s difficult, but if you give up you will have more regret. Just organise yourself, priorities your task, review your progress and reward yourself after each task but don’t give up. Seek some help if you need, but just carry on. If you quit you will regret, and you will lose self-confidence. You will be proud of you once you achieve your New Year resolution.
Everybody can attain their objectives; you just need the right tools, have a plan, a strategy and carry one. Make some progress step by step. So, are you ready to make a big change this year? Just start now, make a plan, and make small steps every week!
Lisiane Ndong 