New Year’s Resolution

According to the time management firm FranklinCovey, ‘one third of resolutioners don’t make it past the end of January’. This may be due to not having realistic resolutions or being too vague so, what can we do to keep them?

Experts suggest following the SMART method, an acronym that stands for: specific, the resolution needs to be absolutely clear and concrete; measurable, track your progress with an app or log it into a journal, in that way your progress is reinforced and having visual results may encourage you to continue; achievable, since trying to take too big a step can leave you frustrated or even affect other areas of your life; relevant, it is essential to have a right purpose for each resolution, something that is meaningful for you, otherwise it will not last long; and time-bound, the resolution needs to be realistic too, meaning that you will have to give yourself enough time to do it with lots of smaller intermediate goals along the way.

The right way to put this into practice is by creating your plan and figuring out how to get there. Thus, make it personal. You can break your resolution into smaller parts, one of them involving a reward, it would reinforce the routine and your will to continue. Nevertheless, your plan should allow for inevitable hurdles that could crop up, so focus on what you are doing good for yourself rather than the mistakes you made. You can always get back on track!

But what is the best way to tackle these hurdles? Firstly, remember that change is hard and that it involves sacrifice and management. A lack of progress can be frustrating, that is why it is important to track our progress, even the smallest ones. In addition you may run out of positivism, the key is not to be always positive but realistic. Therefore, it is a good idea to find a community that shares your resolutions and that can help you with them, for instance forums or real life groups.

Whatever you goal is, do not feel the pressure to reaching it early, just feel free to stay fresh and try again if necessary.