January is over, and with that comes the end of the “new year, new me” mantras and many broken resolutions. Fortunately, just because you failed does not mean your New Year’s resolution has come to an end. Here are a few tips to get you back on track and achieving your New Year’s resolutions:
Figure out what the problem was
Most of the time, people make New Year’s resolutions without considering the backing and support they need to fulfill these goals properly. They also forget to consider just how hectic their lives tend to be outside of these goals. The first step to remedying this is to pinpoint the areas you fell short. Did you underestimate just how much time your course load would take this quarter? Did you skip essential steps in learning the knowledge necessary to fulfill these resolutions properly? Was your goal too vague, preventing you from tentatively knowing precisely what you needed to do? Understanding where you went wrong with your New Year’s resolutions is essential to correcting this behavior and getting back on track.
Get back on the right track
Just because you missed your daily workout this week or never finished your reading goal this month does not mean you failed; all you have to do is start again. Your goal should be consistency. Try your best to fulfill your New Year’s resolutions every day, and if you miss a day, the first instinct should be to try again tomorrow instead of immediately giving up. By aiming for consistency instead of perfection, you are more likely to keep your New Year’s resolutions in the long term.
Think in terms of long-term success
Stop beating yourself up and feeling guilty for misstepping on your path to a better you. Remember: baby steps. You do not have to wait till next year to retry success on your goals; you can try again tomorrow. Instead of admitting defeat, pick yourself up and try again until, eventually, your resolutions become second nature to you. These goals should be things you plan to implement into everyday life; by thinking about the long term, it will be much easier for them to coincide seamlessly with your new routine.
Turn your big resolutions into little goals
New Year’s resolutions can be daunting; starting at this seemingly impossible monstrosity of a goal can also feel discouraging. Instead of looking at your resolution as a daunting task, break it up into smaller, more manageable steps. If your goal for 2022 is to get organized, plan out exactly how you will achieve it. Start by organizing your desk, then your bedroom, then your house, paperwork, appointments, buy a planner and so on. By changing organization into these small remedial tasks that you probably see as super simple, your resolution will become much easier to achieve, and eventually, organization, or whatever your resolution may be, will become a part of your everyday life.
