Better New Year's Resolutions You'll Actually Keep

Any day is a great day to set new goals, but at the end of the year the whole world seems to be focusing on bringing healthy new habits into their lives.

​On January 1, spend some time focusing on all the good things that happened in the previous year. If you’re not already in this habit, try looking through your calendar, the camera roll on your phone, or your social media posts. Chances are, you have some red letter days to reflect on.

Reflecting on your year can help you decide what you want to create more of in your life. Maybe you’d like to spend more family time, or more time working on your hobbies.

It’s easy to find evidence that people don’t stick to their new year’s resolutions. There could be lots of reasons for this. Maybe the goal wasn’t achievable, or maybe you’ve tried and failed so many times that you begin the process already defeated.

To combat this, try focusing on a bigger picture. Rather than small goals like “lose weight” you can focus on a long-term goal such as “live a healthy life” and then chunk it down into manageable pieces:

Live Healthy Life

• Drink more water
• Get to bed by 10 pm
• Go to yoga once a week

Journaling and celebrating your victories is an important component of positive reinforcement. I love doing my New Year’s visualizing and planning with my family. My kids all have different goals depending on their ages. My husband and I have goals for our family, our relationship, and we support each other in our personal goals (last year, we both lost 20 lbs). My sister is a great accountability partner because we enjoy sharing Pinterest boards or Goodreads challenges. Creating your best year with a buddy makes planning more enjoyable and builds accountability.

A great technique is to pick your theme for the year. Maybe it’s “The Year of Yes” or “The Year of Less,” but choosing a word to encompass your year (last year my family dubbed it “Our Year For Success) can help you keep your goals at the forefront of your mind - without the stress and pressures of a laundry list of new year’s resolutions.

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