3 Steps To Keep A New Years Resolution You’ll Actually Follow

New year, New you: Why you shouldn’t make resolutions 

When New Year’s rolls around every year, we see it as a chance to end a bad habit from the previous year and start fresh with new, smart goals for the coming year. It’s a time filled with possibilities to effect a positive change in your life by making better choices. The problem is that New Year’s resolutions are often abandoned after the initial excitement wears off and your life gradually goes back to the way it was before. These 3 steps to keep a New Years resolution will help you understand why your big goal is left in the dust and how to overcome it this year.

When was the last time you set a resolution and actually took action on it?

It’s the same old story every year. Just like we are going to start that diet every Monday, it is pretty unlikely that upon the strike of midnight, you will actually take action on that resolution.

So, rather than declaring a resolution that you are very unlikely to follow through with after the first week of January, what if there was a different way that would actually produce the result you want? 

The good news is that creating new habits you stick with every day is completely possible for the entire year. It all starts with these 3 steps to keep a new years resolution you’ll actually follow through with.

1. Analyze your past resolutions

Start by taking a look at past year’s resolutions and asking yourself some questions about them.

What do they have in common?

What is the common desire for each one?

Think about the result you want to achieve from following through on this new goal. 

You have to know where you’re starting before you’re able to take the first step to move forward. Dig into those past goals and write down what they were and any other details you remember about them to start.

This will help you understand where your past goals came from and your motivations for choosing them. This is important for understanding how a resolution sticks and why it didn’t work for you in that instance.

From here, you’ll take a look at the reasons new year’s resolutions didn’t work for you in the past.

2. Understand why you didn’t follow through

For the next step, you need to understand why you didn’t follow through on those resolutions.

What happened?

What prevented you from keeping with it? Did you lose motivation? Did you choose a goal that was too big right off the bat?

Next to each goal you’ve had in the past, write down why you didn’t end up keeping that specific goal.

A common mistake when making exercise goals or other New Year goals is not evaluating what went wrong and factoring this into your ultimate goal of being healthy.

By understanding these two things, you’ll be able to make a better-aligned action plan in the next step.

3. Create an aligned prioritization plan

Once you have your previous goals and the reason they didn’t work written down, you can create a plan to make following through on your resolutions a no-brainer this year! 

Start with daily goals and remember to celebrate all the small wins.

Another great option is to be part of a support group or be around supportive friends or family members that will encourage you to keep at it every single day.

Creating a new resolution is all about starting with smaller steps that build on each other that produce the results you want in the long run.

It’s important to understand that your healthy goal is part of a new lifestyle. This is necessary to make the changes you want in your life.

Start with a simple action plan and easy tasks that will eventually help you reach your end goal. Each one will build on itself day after day until you have created a lifelong habit.

This is where true change happens and where most people lose the motivation to continue. To create a positive impact on your life, you need to understand that the goals you set for yourself must be part of your daily activities.

This means you’ll need to change the way you’re doing things now, which can feel hard and uncomfortable at first. This is why it’s important to take small steps and rely on the power of habit to create real change.

Conclusion

The problem with resolutions in the way they have always been done is that they come from a place of punishment. When you make a personal goal based on not liking how things are rather than making your goal based on the desire for change, it can derail even the best-laid plans right from the start.

The truth is resolutions are all about a trigger for change. A transformation! What would a transformation do for your life as a whole? What would the ripple impact be?

Taking small steps toward your desire, rather than running from a pain point, is what makes all the difference. Think about what you want, not about what you don’t want to affect the changes you want in your life.

Want a step-by-step approach to making that aligned prioritization plan? Book a complimentary alignment strategy call with Liz today!  Or, check out the Vibe with Your Vision Manifestation Masterclass!

In addition to these 3 steps to keep a New Years resolution, you can also consider your mindset when it comes to success! Check out this The Aligned Mama episode Supernova Success.