The new year offers a fresh start and an opportunity to set goals for self-improvement. Over 40% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, so you’re not alone in wanting to better yourself as the calendar resets.
However, most resolutions fail by February as motivation wanes and real life gets in the way. This year, set yourself up for success by following research-backed tips on how to achieve your goals. With some planning, accountability, and willpower, you can make 2023 your best year yet!
Table of Contents
Start with Intention Setting, Not Just Goal Setting
As you think about what you want to accomplish next year, get clear on why these goals matter to you. Connect with your underlying motivations and the person you aim to become.
Beyond checking tasks off a list, New Year’s resolutions provide a path toward your best self. When challenges arise, remembering your why keeps you going.
For example, rather than simply resolving to lose 20 pounds, get clear that you want more energy to keep up with young kids. Or that you want to model healthy habits as a teacher and parent.
Perhaps you have a family history of diabetes and wish to reduce your risk. Let your deeper intentions guide your goals and actions.
Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
With intention setting as your foundation, transform desired changes into S.M.A.R.T. goals. That stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Vague goals like “get healthier” quickly lose momentum. Getting concrete and granular sets you up to track progress and celebrate small wins.
Here’s an example of a S.M.A.R.T. fitness goal: Walk for 30 minutes five days per week for three months. Compare this to the vague goal of wanting more exercise. The S.M.A.R.T. version carves out a specific time commitment, frequency to aim for, and end date.
Having measurable markers helps you track progress week to week rather than wondering if you’re achieving a nebulous goal. Ensure your goals excite you enough to overcome inertia while remaining realistic, given your schedule, finances, and current abilities. This balance allows you to push yourself while setting up success versus frustrating failure.
Tell Supportive Friends and Family
Sharing your resolutions socially tends to improve follow-through. Those who keep mum have less accountability and are more likely to let goals fall by the wayside when distracted or discouraged. Being open about your intentions holds your feet to the fire.
That said, carefully consider who in your life can offer genuine support. Some friends or family members may seem encouraging, but then they tempt you not long after with happy-hour drinks before evening gym plans.
Or prod you toward unhealthy choices that sabotage your goals. Surround yourself with people who want the best for you, believe in your ability to improve yourself, and demonstrate that through their actions.
Start a Gratitude Journal
Taking time daily to write down what you feel grateful for sounds simple but works magic on your mindset, happiness, and ability to handle stress.
Study participants who kept gratitude journals exercised more regularly, reported fewer illness symptoms, felt better about life overall, and even slept better than those who did not.
Beyond these benefits, gratitude journaling is powerfully synergistic with achieving New Year’s resolutions. It keeps your perspective positive when inevitable setbacks happen. Starting your day mindfully, considering all that’s going right, develops an “abundance mentality.”
This makes it easier to pass on second helpings, alcoholic drinks, or other excesses that hold you back. Expressing gratitude frequently reminds you of the deep intentions motivating your goals. This renews purpose and motivation.
Make It a Lifestyle, Not Lightning Transformation
Beware the myth of overnight transformation. Lasting change occurs gradually through consistency, which creates new habits and preferences. Common New Year’s resolutions like losing weight, getting organized, improving finances, or relationship health require sustainable adjustments over months or years, not lightning bolts on January 1st.
Shift your mindset toward lifestyle design versus lightning transformation. Maintain realistic expectations of steady progress through daily and weekly effort. Small hiccups or backsliding will happen. Progress isn’t linear. The key remains persistence through ups and downs until new habits stick for good.
For example, sustainable weight loss averages about one to two pounds per week. Expecting huge initial drops sets you up for frustration and giving up too soon. Or resolving to never eat sweets again usually backfires quickly. Slow and steady adjustments in recipes, restaurant orders, daily walks, and portion sizes over time ingrain lifestyle changes.
Similarly, realistically, getting on top of finances or a messy home takes many small wins. Celebrate each on-time bill payment, clean out the closet, and pay off your credit card. The combo paints a winning picture over time.
Make Plans and Prepare for Success
Transform vague goals into concrete plans grounded in your current reality. Outline specific days and times to hit the gym, meal prep, or tackle other goals. Scheduling appointments with yourself increases follow-through. Treat them as seriously as a doctor’s visit or work meeting. Building routines and reminders ensure new habits stick.
Analyze potential barriers and how to overcome them. Anticipate busier seasons at work or times kids’ schedules ramp up. Address how you’ll maintain consistency with resolutions despite real-world challenges.
Have a backup plan for transportation if your car breaks down, and make healthy frozen meals for busier weeks. Identify potential trigger points like boredom or stress that may tempt unhealthy habits. Have alternate outlets planned, such as calling a friend or immerging in a compelling novel.
Leverage technology by downloading goal-tracking apps and setting phone alarms for daily commitments. Join an online community such as a weight loss support group to tap into motivation, ideas, and camaraderie.
Make It Rewarding from the get-go.
Resolutions sometimes call for short-term sacrifice for long-term gain. For example, cutting back restaurant meals to save for a dream car or stopping evening snacking to lose weight and feel better in your skin. Make the journey enjoyable despite temptations by intrinsically rewarding small wins often.
Revel in non-scale victories like successfully meal prepping all week or having more energy during morning workouts. Build little treat moments into your routine, like relaxing bubble baths after early morning gym sessions. Purchase cute workout gear after hitting certain consistency benchmarks. Check off resolutions tracking charts with bright pens. Having positive feedback along the way boosts motivation and happiness during the often challenging growth process.
Get an Accountability Partner
Finding someone to regularly check in with turbo charges follows through. Sharing both wins to celebrate together and setbacks to solve problems is powerful. Ideal accountability partners cheerlead your efforts and hold you gently accountable while offering empathy, not judgment when you struggle.
Consider asking a trusted friend, joining a formal program like Weight Watchers that builds accountability with weekly weigh-ins, or even hiring a coach.
Another option is to partner with someone working toward similar goals, such as checking in weekly with a coworker training for the same marathon. Online forums also provide opportunities to share your journey while supporting others doing the same.
Reframe Setbacks as Opportunities
When you inevitably face setbacks, stay determined versus defeated. Remember that small failures and plateaus are part of every major success story. Olympic athletes, executives climbing the corporate ladder, and authors writing best-selling novels all deal with major stumbles on their journeys. Your setback likely signals a small course correction needed, not that your goals are doomed.
Rather than harsh self-criticism, approach hurdles with self-compassion and curiosity. Ask yourself what you can learn about the situation. Maybe you need to go to bed earlier to enable morning workouts. Or check in emotionally more often to avoid stress eating. Update your plans while standing firm in your overall intentions.
Additionally, research shows that willpower operates like a muscle. It becomes fatigued with overuse, making setbacks more likely. But just like muscular strength, it can grow back even stronger with purposeful recovery. When you hit an obstacle, take a one or two-day willpower break from rigidity. Enjoy relaxing or fun activities before quickly regrouping.
Stay Inspired Visualizing the Future You
Connect often with the authentic version of yourself who accomplishes these resolutions. What positive changes do you see and feel in that future version of living your best life? What opportunities open up thanks to better health, relationships, or finances? How do you want friends, family, or colleagues to describe the future you?
Literally, visualize this best version of yourself already achieving goals when you seek inspiration. Self-imagining succeeding sparks the brain to believe that desired change is possible and guides behavior toward that vision. It’s a considerably more effective motivator than dwelling on what you want to give up or move away from.
Celebrate Mini Milestones, Not Just the Finish Line
As mentioned regarding the importance of rewards and positivity along the way, be sure to celebrate smaller milestones, not just the achievement of your ultimate goals. Recognizing incremental progress helps sustain motivation during lengthy resolutions. Mini milestones also provide important data points demonstrating your efforts to work.
For example, on the path toward losing 30 pounds over nine months, celebrate hitting the first 5-pound benchmark. Or, if you resolve to pay off $5,000 in credit card debt, congratulate yourself on paying off each $1,000 chunk.
Use mini-milestones as opportunities to check in on what’s working well in your plans and any needed adjustments. They renew momentum, optimism, and belief in your ability to go the distance.
Shift Your Mindset from Resolution to Evolution
Rather than emphasizing “resolution” as something firm you must force, adopt the mindset of evolving particular areas of your life. This mentality allows for flexibility and self-compassion.
You organically discover healthier habits, relationships, and routines that morph into positive change. Evolution implies small steps together, adding up through gradually acclimating versus demanding rigid adherence.
This year, avoid an all-or-nothing mentality with your goals that typically backfires. Embrace evolution toward your best intentions.
When you face what previously felt like failure, remember that missteps are part of progress, not the antithesis of it. Keep taking those small steps in the right direction and let momentum build progressively. You’ll cross the finish line before you know it.