Making Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick

January 2, 2014 Cassee Cunningham

ID-10067715 The bell has tolled. 2013 is now a thing of the past and 2014 is upon us. Since we’re only two days in, I’m guessing that sticking to your resolutions hasn’t become a problem yet. But how can you make them stick long term? Here are a few suggestions…

Limit the number of resolutions you make. Reality check: The more life throws at us at one time, the more we want to throw in the towel. To make keeping your resolutions more viable, hold yourself to just two or three, at most.
How bad do you want it? Make your resolution(s) something YOU really want, not something you think you should want based on where you are in life or what you think other people think you should want or what they want for you. If you don’t want to make the change for yourself, it’ll be just that much harder to stick to it.
Make your resolutions public. Studies have shown that if you tell people about the changes you want to make, you’re more likely to make them. Not only are those you tell able to hold you accountable, most people don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their friends and family.
Be specific. Narrow down your goals as much as you can. For example, a popular resolution is to save money. Rather than saying “save money,” get detailed with specific ideas like “use coupons to save money at the grocery store” or “shop local consignment stores to save money on clothes and shoes.”
Be realistic. By the same token, you want your goals to be attainable from the start. If you don’t, you could get into it, realize there’s no shot at success, and you’d be setting yourself up for failure.
Plan them out. Just the act of setting a plan breaks your bigger goals into smaller, more achievable goals. These small victories pave the way to long-term success.
It’s not all or nothing. Change takes time. Habits are hard to break. Mistakes are going to happen. When it happens, don’t beat yourself up! Acknowledge the mess-up, get back on the wagon and move onward toward success!