Making Your Resolution Work

making your resolution

This Year Finally Stick to Your Resolutions

It’s that time of the year again; time to make New Year’s resolutions!

Once a year, we get the chance to make some awesome resolutions and we get the chance to break them two weeks later!

That’s what they are for, right? We are constantly making multiple, colossal goals but hardly ever sticking to them. It’s great to make lofty goals for the upcoming year but you also need to make them attainable and there are several ways to make them easier to attain. Let’s check out some solutions on how to stick to your New Year’s resolutions:

Tips for sticking with your resolutions

Write It Down

Sticking With Your Resolutions and GoalsWrite down your resolutions and what/who you are doing them for. This sounds simple, but it’s amazing how motivational putting your goals onto paper can be.

You can look at them when you are having a bad day and aren’t in the mood to stick to your goals for instant motivation. They will remind you what you are working for.

Sub-Goals

It is great to have an overall lofty goal but have sub-goals that are more attainable in a specified time period. For example, if your overall goal is to lose 30 pounds, your sub-goals could be to lose 10 pounds by March, run a half marathon by July, and bench-press 225lbs by October.

Even though the last two goals aren’t semantically about losing 30 pounds they will help you get to your final goal (sort of like checkpoints) and are a fun and engaging way to stay on track!

Ask Someone to Hold You Accountable

This could be your spouse, best friend, or someone you trust to keep you on track. Many of us need help finishing what we start.

Having someone check in on your progress will exponentially increase your chance of sticking with your resolutions.

It could be as simple as having them ask you once a week if you are working towards your goals or when it comes to fitness, they could actually be your fitness partner.

A fitness partner is an ultimate motivation that will hold you accountable to just show up and workout in the first place because you don’t want to let that person down (Jeffery et al 1998). It’s a lot easier to let yourself down and make excuses than it is to let someone else down.

Keep Quiet

One interesting way to help you stick to your New Year’s resolutions is to keep them to yourself. There is some interesting research out there that indicates that those who tell their goals numerous people are actually less likely to stick to those resolutions (Gollwitzer et al 2009).

It seems that telling everyone about your goals actually satisfies your self-identity to a degree where putting in the actual hard work doesn’t seem that important or as good of an idea.

Wrap-Up

In respect to fitness goals and motivation, science has demonstrated that a multifaceted approach is the most effective at keeping you on your path to your goals (Li 1998).

Try a couple of these tips and see if it’s easier for you to stick to your New Year’s resolutions this year.

Knowing me, I will need to use all four! Happy New Year!

References

Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P, Michalski V, Seifert A (2009) When intentions go public: does social reality widen the intention-behavior gap? Psychological Science 20: 612-618.

Jeffery RW, Wing RR, Thorson C, Burton LR (1998) Use of personal trainers and financial incentives to increase exercise in a behavioral weight-loss program. J Con Clin Psych 66: 777.

Li F (1998) The exercise motivation scale: Its multifaceted structure and construct validity. J App Sport Psych 11:97-115.

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Josh is the founder of DIY Active - your at home fitness source! He enjoys blending the latest science and expert advice with health practices to help you exercise smarter at home!
Josh Anderson
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Making Your Resolution Work