The excitement of the new year brings a world of endless possibilities and hope, but it can be harder to execute.
When Americans were polled about their New Year’s resolution, only 9-12% of them reported successfully sticking to their resolutions for the entire year.
In order to be successful with your resolution, The New York Times shared a few tips and tricks to try.
Write down the specifics
Do a little digging into why you want to make a resolution. For example, “getting healthy” can mean different things for different people.
Eating healthy can look like managing one’s food, going to the gym a certain number of times a week, or going to sleep earlier. Be specific about your goal.
Make sure it’s realistic
Completing your resolutions should be a marathon and not a race. If you want to save money and have a figure in mind. Ask yourself if that figure actually works with your current state of finances. Will you be able to achieve it within 12 months?
The point is that you don’t want to set yourself up for failure by making an unrealistic resolution.
“If you do it out of the sense of self-hate or remorse or a strong passion in that moment, it doesn’t usually last long,” said Dr. Michael Bennett, a psychiatrist and co-author of two self-help books, to the New York Times.
Is it relevant to you?
It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon of the most popular trends like Dry January. Trends are fun, but is your resolution aligning with what’s relevant to you? If you’d like to entertain the idea of a dry January but know you’d fall short every now and again, then opting for a damp January is better.
“Studies show that even a modest reduction in drinking can lead to improvements in blood pressure, mental health, and liver health. It can lower risk for cancer and heart disease,” says the Washington Post.
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