January 4th, 2023 by Sarah Miles

While we can all set new goals and ambitions at any time of year, the start of a new year is often a key time for reflection for many people and New Year resolutions tend to go hand in hand with a fresh start. Spending more time with friends and family over Christmas and taking time off work gives us time for reflection and thinking about what we want from the coming year.

However, many New Year resolutions fail to make the distance and it’s not unusual to keep setting the same goals year after year and then fail to realise them. So, how can we give ourselves the best opportunity to set resolutions that we can stick to and achieve?

Here are some tips that can make both settings, working towards, and achieving resolutions a bit easier:

1. Stick to one thing
   
   One of the biggest mistakes people often make is trying to change too many things at once. There may be several things you want to achieve but trying to do them all at once will soon become overwhelming and unmanageable. One single ultimate goal may involve several ‘strategies’ to achieve it, such as changes in behaviour or taking up new activities, but keep everything focused on one outcome.
    
2. Be realistic
   
   Objectives for anything, whether it be in your personal or work life, must be achievable and you need to feel like you are making progress, otherwise, you are likely to give up. That’s not to say they can’t be challenging (if they were easy, you would have probably already done them by now) but don’t set yourself up to fail.
    
3. Consider why you want to achieve it and what success looks like
   
   Understanding your motivation for achieving something and how that will improve your life in some way will firstly help you distil what is important to you and also keep you on track. For example, the goal could be to stop smoking or lose weight but think about what achieving that would mean and the difference it would make. This could be things like being healthier, being able to be more active, having more confidence, and enabling you to do something you’ve always wanted to do. Focus on the outcome and what successfully achieving it will mean to you.
    
4. Plan ahead
   
   They say if you fail to plan, you plan to fail and just as your objective need to be realistic, you also need to understand how you are going to work towards it. Set some interim goals along the way so that you feel that you are achieving small wins. Break it down into manageable chunks. For example, if your goal is to lose weight perhaps start by switching your bag of crisps at lunchtime to a piece of fruit. Once you have established this as a habit, set a new task. Once you have lost a little weight and have more energy, introduce an exercise class, or start going for walks a couple of times a week. Small incremental changes are more sustainable than distant goals that seem too difficult.
    
5. Track your progress
   
   Keep checking in with yourself and celebrate achievements as you go along. This may involve recording your journey in a diary. As well as actual tasks achieved, also note how you feel, what you have found easy, what you have found difficult, and your goals for the next few weeks. This can help you take stock and even give you something to look back on as you move forward.
    
6. Don’t give up if you have a setback
   
   The path to achieving anything is seldom in a straight line! There will be times when things don’t go to plan or periods when you lack motivation. Don’t be hard on yourself and don’t let it make you believe that you have failed. Refocus, revisit your previous successes and set your target back on your goals. After all, if one flower dies, you don’t throw the whole bunch away.