We have already reached the end of January 2024! “Where did that month just go?” I hear you say.
Now is a great time to stop and reflect on the New Year’s resolutions we set ourselves at the
beginning of the year. I wonder how you are going to form new habits or work towards new goals
for the year?
In this blog, I am covering some tips to consider if you are already struggling to maintain your new
year’s resolutions.
- Set Clear and Realistic Goals:
Start by setting a clear long-term goal that is in line with your values and dreams that you want to work towards. Then, set some smaller goals or steps that you feel sure you can do. This way, you set
yourself up for success. Then, when you feel confident, you can add the next steps to progress towards your larger goal. - Identify your Why:
What are your reasons for starting a new habit? Why is it important to you do this? Are you
changing for your own reasons or to please someone else? Remind yourself of the reasons why your
new habit is important to you so you can review this frequently. This can help you stay committed
and motivated. - Identify potential barriers:
Identify what obstacles might get in the way of working towards your goal or changing your habit.
Consider what these obstacles might be and come up with strategies to overcome them. This could
include things like limited time, lack of resources like money or practical help, emotions and their
influence on our decisions, and many other obstacles. - Practice self-compassion:
Making changes to our habits can be very challenging, and it’s easy to give up or fall short of what
we want to achieve from time to time. This is a normal and almost necessary part of changing a
habit. Knowing that changing a habit is difficult for everyone can help you to be kinder to yourself in
these moments and allow yourself to dust yourself off, reflect on what happened and get back on
track again with a new and more realistic action plan. - Connect with social support:
Being supported by others who are also making changes to their lifestyle habits can be very helpful.
Whether it’s through a class at the gym, support group, online community, or with friends and
family, having good social support can encourage you to keep on track and give you good ideas to
tackle the obstacles along the way. - Embrace Mindfulness:
Mindfulness is the practice of intentionally being aware of the present moment, observing your experiences both internally and externally with acceptance and without judgment. Mindfulness helps you to turn off your autopilot so you can make different, more deliberate choices throughout the day that will help you achieve your goals or create new habits. - Measure your progress.
Work out a way of measuring your progress towards your goals. How will you know you have achieved the goal e.g. I know if my goal is to run for 20 minutes, I can measure when I have done this, and track my progress, but if my goal is to generally increase my energy levels, this is more of a personal experience, this is harder to measure concretely, but I could measure something linked to good energy like length of sleep at night. - Reward yourself and have fun.
Celebrate your successes, whether big or small, to help reinforce your new habits. Reward yourself for each step achieved on your journey to your longer-term goal. Maybe a few kind words or a special reward can keep you motivated to stay on track. Plan to make this new habit fun and something you will look forward to.
Don’t give up working towards your goal to create a new habit! Remind yourself why it’s important, create easy steps towards your longer-term goals, monitor your progress, be kind to yourself and make sure you have some fun along the way.
