5 Secret Ways to Make Any Resolution Work

5 Secret Ways to Make Any Resolution Work

I suppose secrets are only secrets if you don’t already know them, but these 5 ways to make any resolution work are probably secret to you because, if you’re reading this, you’ve yet to make any resolution work.

  1. You start small. When I say small, I mean micro-small. Create a goal that you can’t say no to. If you want to eat more vegetables, try eating literally one baby carrot each day. If you want to exercise more, try walking around your house once a day, until you want to step it up a notch. With that, try to improve in small increments.
  2. If you slip up, don’t give up. It’s okay to slip up! Your goal should be to never miss more than once in a row. Let the sad feeling of missing once be your motivation to make sure you do it right tomorrow.
  3. Break it down. If you want to lose 30 pounds, you have to break that down into more manageable goals. Note how you are going to do that: cut out sugar, exercise more, eat more veggies, etc. Then break it down again: to cut out sugar you need to (1) just stop buying sugar (2) give yourself one cheat day a week (3) etc. Then break it down again, and again, until your huge goal is a lot of little tiny manageable goals. When you’re creating true habits, you have to be patient.
  4. Record your progress. Seeing how well you’ve done and what you need to do better will help you keep track of where you can go. Once a week, write down what you accomplished and how you want to do better. 
  5. Don’t keep your goals to yourself. Doing your resolutions with others, talking about your resolutions with others, or even automating your phone to tell you to do stuff will help you keep your goals.

 

 

Top Ten Common Resolutions People Make

Here is the list of the most common resolutions and a short way you can start to break each one down.

Exercise more. 
    1. Start by doing one push up before you go to bed. 
    2. Roll out on the Chirp Wheel before bed.
    3. Call a friend to go with you to the gym.
Lose weight. 
    1. Drink a glass of water right when you wake up. 
    2. Take a walk around your house. 
    3. Add lettuce to your sandwich.
Get organized. 
    1. Pick one thing to organize each day. Today is that one drawer in your house that is a junk drawer, just throw it all away: done.
    2. Buy a notebook or whiteboard.
    3. Organize your top dresser drawer.
Learn a new skill or hobby. 
    1. Watch a Youtube video about the skill you want to learn. So easy.
    2. Purchase one thing you might need for your hobby, such as a yoga mat or some sheet music.
    3. If you want to learn, let’s say, Microsoft Excel, open an Excel spreadsheet and create a plan in it on how you’re going to keep this goal.
Live life to the fullest. 
    1. Smile at someone today.
    2. Make a cake.
    3. Call your best friend.
Save more money / spend less money. 
    1. Don’t buy clothes today.
    2. Don’t add the guacamole to your burrito.
    3. Don’t eat out today.
Quit smoking. 
    1. Smoke one less cigarette today.
    2. Talk to a friend about quitting.
    3. Buy a nicotine patch instead of another box of cigarettes.
Spend more time with family and friends. 
    1. Text a friend.
    2. Call your mom.
    3. Ask if you can babysit your niece.
Travel more. 
    1. Watch a video about where you want to go.
    2. Open a savings account for traveling.
    3. Talk to someone who has been to your dream destination.
Read more. 
    1. Read one page of a book today.
    2. Purchase a book today.
    3. Research books you want to read today.

 

 

References

Clear, J. (n.d.). How to build a new habit: this is your strategy guide. Retrieved from https://jamesclear.com/habit-guide 

Zomick, B. (n.d.). Top 10 most common new year’s resolutions (and how to follow through on them). Retrieved from https://www.goskills.com/Soft-Skills/Resources/Top-10-new-years-resolutions