Six Steps to Keep Your New Year’s Resolution

January 24, 2008 By Debbie Dragon

Millions of people make New Year’s resolutions at the start of a new year, but how many people do you think follow through until they see those resolutions become reality? Not many!In order to successfully create change in your life, which is essentially what a resolution is- when you resolve to do something different or make an improvement- you have to stick to the new activity or new way of doing something for at least 30 days. Experts tell us that it takes 30 days to create a habit in our lives.

So that explains why many people are excited and gung ho over their New Year’s resolution on January 1^st, only to find they’ve given up by about the 15th! What does it take to be successful in keeping your New Year’s Resolution- or for obtaining any goal you have in general?

There are 6 Proven Steps you must take if you plan to see your resolution become reality:

1. Specifically and clearly define what it is you want. You can’t say “I want to be thinner”, because that doesn’t give any indication to how much “thinner” you plan to become. Instead, you should say “I want to lose 20 pounds”, or “I will pay off credit cards A and B”.
2. Your resolution and goals must be measurable. If you can’t measure it, how will you ever know if you’ve made progress or obtained your goal? Don’t say “I’m going to earn more money this year”; write down an actual dollar amount so you can see whether you’ve reached your goal or not.
3. Set a Timeframe. If you just say “I want to lose 20 pounds” and do not give yourself a deadline, there is no sense of urgency, no real purpose or motivation. You could lose 20 pounds over the period of ten years, or you could say you want to lose 20 pounds in 6 months.
4. Plan, plan, plan. You can’t get anywhere if you don’t know how to get there. How will you overcome the temptation to eat that donut if your goal is to lose weight? You know that we are presented with opportunities to fail at every corner, and once your emotional high has left you and the excitement of entering a New Year or making a new goal has faded- how will you carry on towards your goal? You need to have a plan in place.
5. “The journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step”. This is true with anything you do- nothing happens all at once, you will always have to take it step by step. Making steady progress will produce favorable results- so decide what your steps will be and maybe even build in little rewards for progressing successfully through each of your steps.
6. Consequences for failure and accountability. If you’re going to quit smoking, what happens if you light up a ciggerette and fall off the wagon? Nothing, really. You know that you’ve taken a step backwards from your goal and whether you get back on track or not is not the point. You need to have real consequences for giving in to the behavior you are attempting to change- and get someone to hold you accountable.

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