Almost everyone has tried to set a New Year’s Resolution, yet more than 80% of us fail before the end of January. While New Year’s resolutions might seem hopeless, they can give us a meaningful opportunity to set up some practical changes in our lives.
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1) The new year is a symbolic time of renewal
While we might be able to start up a new habit any time of the year, the new year is a hugely symbolic time of the year to take action.
If you are like me and have a full-time job, you might not be able to tell one day for another, so there is no transition we are working towards. However, the holidays and new year can be the kind of event that gets you to reevaluate your situation and see growth opportunities.
While there is nothing special about new year’s day, it is the first day of the year, so in a sense, you are getting a fresh start and a good starting point for a new habit.
2) The new year can serve as a turning point
As I mentioned above, there isn’t much difference from one day to the next, but something is intriguing about the year’s changing. While we can sit back and think nothing of the day, we can also shift our perspective and see it as a turning point into something new.
While the upcoming year might be much like the last, celebrating and accepting the significance of the change can be a powerful motivator.
A year is a number that we sometimes have to write down, but the new year is an opportunity to see a new beginning ripe for growth and development.
3) People who fail at new years resolutions will fail with other goals
80% of people fail to keep their new year resolutions because they’d have failed no matter when they tried. To make any significant change in your life, you need to be committed to it and willing to push through the pain and suffering you will have to endure.
Change is difficult, so most fail; the reason is, people want easy solutions, meaning they don’t want to have to do anything.
Change requires action.
If you want to succeed at any goal, you need to be willing to push through it; if you aren’t ready for that, no new habits will stick regardless of when you start them.
4) New year, new you
While the new year’s change is only in our heads, it is an opportunity to become a new you. We are constantly changing; you aren’t the same person today as yesterday, nor the week before.
The truth is that we are continually evolving, but the changes we measure will be random and arbitrary. The fact is, if we take it seriously, we can become a new person, and the new year is a great time to start that process.
We are constantly evolving into a better version of ourselves when we recognize that it is up to us, so why not choose the new year as a starting point. If you are serious about change, you need to embrace and see it through.
5) Most people fail because they don’t take their goals seriously
If you don’t take what you are working towards seriously, then there is no point in trying in the first place. Most people fail at what they are trying because they don’t care about it as much as they claim.
Maybe they are doing it for the likes or encouragement, but that is only likely to last a couple of days. To what something is to still want it a year from now, cause sometimes that is how long it takes to see significant change.
Nothing worth having happens overnight, so take your goals seriously and be willing to work towards them.
If you don’t take what you are working towards sincerely, it is not going to happen. This means you need to be committed, as anything worth having takes longer than a few days. Sustainable, repeatable actions are the ones you are most likely to keep up.
6) SMART goals are way more likely to become a reality
The best way to make something possible is to make it a SMART goal.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.
You can achieve SMART goals because they are planned out and formatted to make sense when it comes to accomplishing things.
Ensure that your goal is specific; you need to know what you are working towards.
Make it measurable; if you can’t measure something, how can you ever be sure it is happening?
Be reasonable with your goals, pick possible things, why set a goal you know you will fail?
Make sure that your plan makes sense; how will you make it happen if you work towards something that doesn’t fit into your life or skill set?
Have a time limit; if you are going to fail, you want to know as soon as possible, so you don’t waste your time for longer than you have to.
7) Starting the year with good habits will make it easier to follow through
Last holidays I felt like crap and having some time away from work helped me realize it wasn’t related to looking at my computer all day. On the first of January, you have an obvious starting point to measure your progress and success.
As the days count up in the year, so to will your progress towards your resolution. Knowing you’ve gotten through the first ten days of the year will serve as motivation for the next symbolic chunk.
A new year is a fresh start; the sense of renewal will stick with you all year if you take it seriously.
For myself, the habits I was able to start in the first couple of weeks of the year have stuck because I was serious about achieving them.
8) Time off during the holidays is an excellent chance to start fresh
I always find that when I get a break away from work or whatever I’ve been occupied with, it gives me a chance to look at things with fresh eyes.
If you have the option, it might be helpful to take some time off over the holidays and around the new year. This way, you will get a chance to look back at what you’ve been doing, and this might help you see the things you need to change or work on.
Time away from things gives us a chance to look at them differently.
If you want to boost your ability to be successful at your new year’s resolution. Take some time off over the holidays and use it to reflect on what you’ve been doing and what you would like to improve.
9) Focus on the values of the previous year, build on them
If you’ve taken some time to reflect on what the last year has been like, you might start to notice that there are specific values that you have focused on.
Keeping those values in mind will make it easier to pick SMART goals that you are more likely to follow through with.
Even if we say something matters, what actually matters are the values that lead us there.
Our values are potent motivators that we can use to our advantage. Values drive all our actions, so use this power to your advantage.
If you know what you value, figure out how to use that to direct the sorts of goals you should be working towards in the new year.
10) New year, new chance to live your purpose
Often, we might feel like we need to change because we have realized that purpose is missing from our lives.
If you want your new year’s resolution to stick, pick something that will bring more purpose to your life. This part is tricky because everyone has a different sense of what matters, so we need to work this out for ourselves.
If you believe what you are doing matters, it will be easier to stick with it throughout the year.
Purpose is a great motivator, and if you can use the new year as a chance to focus on your purpose and what matters most to you, you are much more likely to find success.
Hopefully, this list has helped you see why it is crucial to have a new year’s resolution and why you can use the new year as a symbolic event to initiate change in your life.
The question you need to ask yourself is, are you going to take your resolutions seriously? If you aren’t ready to change, it’s not going to happen.
So this year, how will you make your new year’s resolutions a reality?