How to keep your New Year’s resolutions

1. Make your goals reasonable

If you make a whole bunch of goals that are too complicated and try to enforce them all at once, it’s going to be difficult to maintain the new lifestyle you’re trying to create. If you have a lot of big resolutions, try to accomplish them in chunks. For example, if you want to eat healthier, go to the gym every day, drink 8 cups of water a day, and sleep 8 hours a night, try taking it one resolution at a time. First work on sleeping 8 hours a night. Once you make that into a habit, focus on drinking 8 cups of water a day. As soon as that’s a habit, focus on eating healthy, then worry about going to the gym every day. 

2. Write down the bad habits you have and why you want to replace them with good habits

For example, if you eat Taco Bell every day and you want to start eating at home, write down why you want to eat at home. You might want to start eating healthier or save money. Writing down your bad habits and replacing it with good habits gives you a reminder as to why you want to stick to your resolutions.

3. Make a vision board

Creating a vision board helps to remind you what you want your life to look like. A vision board does even have to be restricted to resolutions. It could go as far as showing what you want your 2020 to look like. 

4. Map out how you’re going to accomplish your goals

Don’t just say, ‘I’m going to work out every day.’ Instead, create an idea of how you’re going to work it into your day. If you work or go to school every day and you live somewhere where you can’t go outside and run around, you need to create a plan. Do you need to get a gym membership? If so, how much is that going to cost? If you have work in the evenings or you have to take care of your siblings, maybe you don’t have the time to focus on a thirty-minute workout. If that’s the case you need to create a plan for your goal that’s going to work for you. 

5. Tell a friend about your goals

If you keep your goals to yourself and don’t accomplish them, you let your resolutions wither away in peace. If you tell a friend or family member, you are able to have someone to hold you accountable. 

6. Journal every day 

By journaling every day you are able to keep track of your goals and see your progress. You can do this by journaling what resolutions you accomplished, or you can create a system of boxes that you are able to color in once you’ve completed the task. There are many ways to journal your resolutions in order to keep up with them. 

7. Plan your day around your resolutions

For example, if you know you want to devote more time to your hobbies, you need to plan for that. Don’t make plans to go out every single night if your resolution is to paint in your free time. Instead, make a plan for your week. Block out days that you want to stay home and focus on your hobbies and leave the rest of the week open for doing whatever else is in your schedule. 

8. Create reminders in your phone to remind you what goals you need to accomplish throughout the day

If your goal is to drink eight cups of water a day, set reminders throughout your day that remind you to do so. Or, if you want to start a new habit of being in bed by 10:00, set a reminder at 9:00 so you can begin getting ready for that. Reminders can be your best friend if you use and listen to them.

9. If you don’t want to do something, count to five then do it

So, if you want to go for a run and stick to your resolutions but running is the last thing on Earth that you want to do, count to five, then force yourself to do it. You’ll feel better once it’s off your to-do list, and you’ll feel accomplished. 

10. It’s okay to start over or late

Lastly, if you have tons of New Year’s Resolutions but you haven’t started yet halfway through the month of January, that’s okay! It’s always alright to start, even if you don’t start at 12:00 on January 1st. Resolutions are created to help you change and better yourself, and you can do that at any point in the year. Don’t give up.