The new year is around the corner! Here comes a flood of inspiration to start fresh, set goals, and make changes in your life. New Year’s Resolutions are a popular tradition, with common resolves to lose weight, take a risk, or start a new hobby.
It turns out, resolutions are much easier to make than to follow through with. Studies show most people will abandon resolutions made in January by March! Even so, it’s worth taking this opportunity each year to reflect on the good and bad of the year prior and set up intentions and goals.
Thankfully, we’re here to help you with your resolution(s) for 2021! You’ll be well on your way to accomplishing them in March, not another statistic. Now let’s get into the tips, tricks, and things to keep in mind going into 2021.
Choose Your Resolution
Step one: Choose a resolution!
How can you choose a resolution that is right for you, worth it, and realistic? Start by reflecting on the past year. What went well? What do you regret? What was missing?
At Mooditude, we encourage you to prioritize your mental health, and after the stress and anxiety of 2020, a mental health-related resolution might be just what the doctor ordered!
Resolution For Mental Health
There are tons of ways to include your mental health in your 2021 resolutions. It might be starting a new hobby, routine or habit, or ditching an unhealthy habit.
Here are some examples of resolutions to improve your mental health:
- Go to mental health counseling
- Start a gratitude journal and write in it every morning
- Give up alcohol
- Less time with social media/cell phone
The Technical Side of Choosing Your Resolution
Your resolution boils down to a goal you want to set yourself up to complete this upcoming year. One way to ensure your resolution is doable is to follow the “S.M.A.R.T.” process for setting a goal.
By setting a goal based on the SMART outline, your resolution will be:
- Specific,
- Measurable,
- Achievable,
- Relevant, and
- Time-bound.
These help to ensure you’re clear on your goal, it’s realistic and you will know if you’re on the right track.
Need help? Let’s take one of our mental health resolutions as an example.
Resolution idea: Spend less time on social media.
Now, let’s refine the resolution with the S.M.A.R.T. process!
- Be specific: Social media includes Instagram and Facebook.
- Make it measurable: Use hours per week.
- Achievable: It is doable with the use of an app to disable app usage.
- Relevant: This is relevant to my life.
- Time-Bound: Measure by the week, improve by the first 3 months.
Now based on these speculations, the new resolution might look like this:
“My resolution is to limit my time on Instagram and Facebook to 10 hours per week. I will use an app to disable the apps after 9 PM each night and will re-access my progress in March.”
Stick to Your Resolution
Once your resolution is set, you’re against the statistics. We know you have it in you to stick to your resolution and hopefully accomplish it!
In order to stick to your resolution, you can get some help and prepare the best you can for what to expect on your journey to the resolution.
Your resolution should be something you care about and have the motive to follow through with no matter what might come up. In order to continue pushing forward, consider these tips:
Don’t Do It Alone
Accountability is a huge help when setting and reaching goals. Studies show shocking improvements to reaching goals when committing to someone else. Even more, you can improve your likelihood of success by 95% by setting up check-ins with your accountability partner.
So, this tip is pretty important! How can you go about getting an accountability partner? Turn to your significant other or friend to do the resolution by your side, or dedicate time to checking in with you every few weeks to see how things are going.
Don’t Give Up
Be prepared to want to quit! What will you do when you hit a wall? When you feel like it’s not worth it?
While it can be difficult to push past these negative feelings and discouraging thoughts, you can do it and should prepare for this ahead of time. Some helpful ways to combat this is to have your motivations written down to refer to. If you’re feeling the pressure and like it’s not worth it, remember why you started.
Have a plan in place and expect to hit that barrier so you can easily move past it and continue toward your goals.
Take a Break
It’s impossible to be 100% all the time. No matter how demanding your resolution is, you deserve to rest, recharge and take a break. Plan ahead of time to allow yourself a break, but also forgive yourself if and when you need unscheduled breaks!
Track Your Progress
You are your own competition and motivation! It is inspiring to see yourself succeed and look back on how far you’ve come.
Tracking will look different based on what your resolution is. Some fun ways to track include:
- Color in a calendar for each completed day
- Write your mood or feelings each day after completing your goal
- Use an app
- Keep a journal for your resolution(s) only
You Can Make It Happen
It’s normal to feel the pressure of the New Year and overwhelm when deciding on a resolution. The truth is, it shouldn’t be stressful at all. Your resolution should be an easy goal you want to set that is going to be a positive change or addition for you in 2021. Use the clean slate of 2021 to prioritize yourself in one way or another, you can do it with the help of a S.M.A.R.T. goal and preparing for the barriers you might face. You can do it!
