We are 2 months into the New Year and we know how New Years resolutions can be tough o keep. The promises we make to ourselves can be difficult to keep as we attempt to make immediate, sometimes drastic, and enduring change. It can be easy to feel dejected and discouraged when we slip up in those early days of January. Whether it’s missing a day at the gym or eating fast food, it can be too easy to abandon our resolutions. Positive change in our lives takes a lot of work, time, commitment, and most of all a painstaking amount of determination and willpower to not to give up, even when we fail. Resetting, refocusing, and reminding yourself to keep going takes practice. Here’s how to both keep and achieve those resolutions and goals.

Planning Your Promises to Yourself

When starting the year, you may have given yourself vague, lofty, and ambitious goals that had no plan behind it. Without a plan, it can be difficult to make changes to your day-to-day routine, and you may find yourself giving up when faced with even small obstacles. Setting specific goals and putting a thoughtful plan in place to achieve those goals is the first step to help you get there. It can be as simple as writing out a daily or weekly schedule to help you get into a routine, and keep your day organized. Creating a detailed written plan can put a structure and strategy in place, so you can focus yourself. When things get difficult, the combination of an organized structure and set of tactics to use when faced with challenges will help prevent you from slipping up.

As you brainstorm your plan, you may want to consider whiteboarding your ideas to tackle major changes to tackle major changes to your life. This can include why you want the change, the steps you will take, and strategies to keep yourself on track. Brainstorm any challenges you may foresee yourself facing, or have already faced, and make a contingency plan to overcome them. For example, your new year’s resolution may be to exercise every other day, what will you do if you miss more than three days in a row because of working late, illness, unexpected family events, or from simply feeling tired. Planning for potential setbacks will prepare you for when they occur, so that you do not completely derail and can get you back on track.

Write Down Your Resolutions

Writing things down can be a good way of remembering things, but writing down your new year’s resolutions someplace you will always see them can serve as a constant reminder. Writing your resolutions, or really any goals you are trying to achieve through the year on a desk calendar or your office whiteboard can help you visualize them. Having that daily visual reminder right in your face will help keep them top of mind and that motivation high.

Having your resolutions up on a whiteboard or visual tool can also help you track goals, especially the daily ones. For example, if your goal is to take a multi-vitamin or eat certain health foods for lunch, you can check mark each day you followed your goal. Writing down your progress on a whiteboard gives you something definite to work on and keeps you organized. For the resolutions that are more complex in nature, writing a list of milestones to work towards can also help track your progress. Breaking your resolutions and goals down in milestones creates a chart to track and envision and makes them feel more attainable.

Take pride in your achievements, even the small ones

Sometimes keeping your 2023 New Year’s resolutions alive can be as simple as celebrating your accomplishments. Each time you hit a milestone, treat yourself. This makes the work less painstaking and allows you to enjoy the process. As you work towards your resolutions, your mindset may falter if the process exhausts and stops becoming an enjoyable experience. For example, if you are training to run a marathon you are probably spending more time training than partaking in the actual marathon. Since it is such a large investment of your time, it’s important to enjoy the process of working towards your goal. Being compassionate towards yourself rather than criticizing, can keep your mindset positive and give you the right encouragement to keep going.

Final Thoughts

Keeping new year’s resolutions can be tough, and positive change in our live takes a lot of work. Writing a detailed plan, making note of your resolutions on a whiteboard, and rewarding yourself can keep you on track to making your resolutions a reality.