New Year, New You: Setting Reasonable New Year's Resolutions (and Sticking To Them)

Now that 2018 has come to a close, we are all riding the high of the holidays and time off from our usual routines. This is the time of year when we are given some much-needed downtime and an opportunity to reflect on what we have done in the last year. And, more importantly, what we want to do in the next one.

I have never been one to make grand New Year’s resolutions. I am more the type to come up with a new goal on a random Wednesday in March. But there is something incredibly invigorating to starting a completely clean slate on a completely new year. Fresh calendars, fresh agendas, fresh start.

But how to we make these ambitious goals come to fruition?

Step 1: Set a [reasonable] goal

Think back to resolutions you have made in the past. Did you succeed? If you didn’t, that’s okay — fewer than 10% of people actually keep their resolutions.

Now think about what the resolution was. Was it manageable, or did it require a complete overhaul of your routine? Did you have a plan? The reason you failed last time can give you tips to how to make an achievable goal this time around.

Choose your resolution, however big or small. Now break it down and start focusing on a small, attainable goal. Something specific and measurable. A goal that you can build upon. If you have dreams of losing 100 lbs, break it down into smaller increments. If you want to start flossing your teeth every day, start by setting your goal to once a week. If you want to stop buying coffee every day on your way to work, start by cutting out one or two of those lattes every week.

You can (and should!) have more than one goal, and they can certainly be big goals! The point is to start small and focus on one thing at a time. Those little bits of success will give you the confidence to power through the next one.

Step 2: Create a plan

Now that you have chosen a starting goal, what steps do you need to take to achieve it? Changes in behaviour do not happen overnight, and you need to respect that about yourself. If you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, do not expect yourself to suddenly become a morning person just because you resolved to!

Visualize your goal, and think of what you need to do to get to it. Acknowledge the roadblocks that will inevitably occur, and have a plan to overcome them. Let’s say your goal is to take a spin class every Monday morning before work, but you struggle to get up and out the door on time. Recognize that your Sunday night routine is crucial: get breakfast prepped, set out your shoes and workout gear, and get to bed a little early.
If your goal is to break a bad habit, identify the triggers for that habit and come up with a replacement for it. Are you trying to stop mindlessly snacking while you watch TV at night? Get your hands busy doing something else, like knitting (for real, I did this) or colouring. Have a fallback plan for when you’re actually hungry: eat real food, like a sliced apple drizzled with peanut butter (yum).

Step 3: Build the habit

It takes about 3 weeks to build a habit, and repetition is the only way to get there. You are essentially training your brain to treat this new habit as something that is a normal occurrence. Eventually, you will become used to what you are doing to the point that it becomes second nature.

We all know the power of habits, but building them is the hard part. Motivation is at its strongest at the beginning of our goal-setting process, so take that momentum and apply it right away. You have already set a reasonable goal, now give yourself that 3 weeks to transform it from an aspiration to routine

Be sure to make flexibility a part of your habit. Maybe you were out late on Sunday night and can’t make your Monday morning spin session. Either do it on Tuesday morning, or give yourself the week and get back to it the following Monday.

Step 4: Adjust the goal

Perfection is not achievable. At times, you will falter - but don’t let yourself fail. The goal that you made on January 1st was important to you then, and likely it is still important to you. Check in on our resolution on a regular basis (monthly?) and decide if you need to make changes to your goal. Don’t give up, just adjust.

Big changes take a lot of patience and effort. If you believe in the change you are trying to make, then success is the only option. The method you use to achieve your goals may evolve, and the payoff is worth it.