How To Avoid Breaking Your New Year’s Resolution

As the New Year approaches, many of us will be setting goals and making resolutions.  There’s nothing like a fresh start, a clean slate, and a new beginning!

The problem is, only 8% of those that set these goals and resolutions will succeed.  Only 8 people out of 100!

In my experience, waiting until January 1 to get started on my goals and resolutions has just been another form of procrastination.

I’m a firm believer in goal-setting, but I’m also a firm believer in the power of just getting started and taking small steps to move toward those goals.

Friends, each and every day is an opportunity to create change in your life that will bring about fulfillment and allow you to make a greater impact.  Why wait?

I’ve got an idea!  I believe if we set our intention and get started today, we are far less likely to be one of the 92 people in that failure category for New Year’s resolutions.  We’re 19 days out from the New Year, so that means we’ve got 19 days to create some pretty serious momentum.

Curious as to the top 10 commonly broken New Year’s resolutions?

Here’s Time magazine‘s list:

• Lose Weight and Get Fit
• Quit Smoking
• Learn Something New
• Eat Healthier and Diet
• Get Out of Debt and Save Money
• Spend More Time with Family
• Travel to New Places
• Be Less Stressed
• Volunteer
• Drink Less

Anything on this list look like something you’d like to accomplish?

Yes?

OK, awesome!  Since we’re getting started today, let’s go through the list and I’m going to suggest some small steps that can be initiated today.

If your goal or resolution is not on the list, use the ideas below to stimulate thoughts on what your own first small step will be.

Your goal may seem daunting, but when you take the first step and well-planned baby steps afterward–like you’re going to–you’ll be less likely to become overwhelmed, which is often the cause of failure in reaching goals.

Lose Weight and Get Fit:  Exercise every day for at least 20 minutes.  If your New’s Years plan is to join a gym in January (when membership fees are waived), that’s fine to wait on that, but begin walking outside, on your treadmill, or in a mall for 20 minutes beginning today.

Quit Smoking:  This is a tough one…smoking is not only a bad habit, but an addiction as well.  I have three suggestions, one of which I used to quit smoking many years ago.
1. Quit cold turkey today or set a cold turkey quit-date in the next 7 days (I’ll tell you how I did it below).
2. Cut back.  Set a clear goal like: 1. No smoking between 11am-1pm, 2. Cut back from 20 cigarettes per day to 15, or 3. No smoking during the daylight hours.
3. Consult a doctor to see if there are medications or nicotine replacement options.

A technique I found very successful was making a promise to a loved one that I’d quit by a certain date.  For some reason, most of us find it easier to break a promise to ourselves, than it is to others.  The loved one I promised I would quit, was my five year old son.  We were driving down the road and out of the blue, he said, “Mama, I don’t want you to die from smoking.”  I about lost it!  I felt awful that his little mind was worrying about something like me dying because of an unhealthy choice I was making.  He made that comment on a Sunday afternoon and I told him I would quit by Friday at midnight.  I think if I’d told him that I’d quit immediately, I might have failed.  I knew that I had to mentally prepare myself.  I used those next five days to create a mindset that helped me to actually quit that Friday night.

Learn Something New:  Have you already decided what that thing is that you want to learn?  If so, work on your plan now as to how you will go about the learning.  Say you want to learn to speak Spanish: break it down into small daily steps.  Spend 15-30 minutes over the next few days researching the best method or tool for learning Spanish (if you need to purchase software, do that as soon as you decide and get started), see if there are classes or groups where you can practice your skills offered in your community (sign up for the class now), and finally, clear time in your schedule to learn and practice.  Now you’ve invested, may have found an accountability group, and will have time in your schedule to learn Spanish.

Eat Healthier and Diet:  We probably all need more vegetables in our diet.  Begin today with committing to eating one salad per day.  To make it easy on yourself, make a big salad that will last you four or five days.  Keeping your salad in a salad spinner in the fridge helps it to keep fresh all week long.  Maybe you eat plenty of veggies, but you have a problem with portion control. Begin today by cutting your servings in half and drinking a large glass of water with each meal.          

Get Out of Debt and Save Money:  First of all, please don’t go on a spending spree this month because you feel like you’re going to have to be super tight over the next two years, beginning January 1!  Start today by spending 15-30 minutes reviewing your checking account activity and/or credit card statements.  See where you’re spending most of your money.  Over the next few weeks, pay close attention to your spending.  I suggest tracking your spending by writing down all of your expenditures on paper, in an Excel spreadsheet, or on your smart phone.  Pay close attention to your purchases and whether they are necessities. You’ll be less likely to buy that tee-shirt at Target thinking this way and when you know you have to write it down.  It’s a mental thing, but it really works.  By the time the New Year rolls around, you’ll be ready to get started on creating a budget.

Maybe you know what you spend, but you just need a system to help you stick to your budget.  I have many friends who have had great success in getting out of debt and saving money by using the envelope system.  Click here to see how it works.

Spend More Time with Family:  Keep it simple.  Begin today by setting 3 weekly “dates” with your loved ones.  Maybe you go on a long walk with your son every Friday night.  Wednesday night might become family cooking night, where everyone gets in the kitchen and cooks together.  Setting aside time (that’s not rushed) on Monday morning to enjoy coffee with your spouse will set an awesome tone for your week.

Travel to New Places:  You may need to work on the “getting out of debt” resolution in conjunction with this one.  Start planning today by setting aside time every day (15 minutes goes a long way) or once per week to research where you’d like to go, what you’d like to do while you’re there, and how much it will cost to make it all happen.  I suggest starting a basic spreadsheet or journal to plan your trip.  Once you know how much it will cost, you can set the date and request your vacation days!  Another fun project to begin working on now is to create a vision board for your dream trip(s).

Be Less Stressed:  Easier said than done, right?  I created a 7-day Life Balance challenge that, I believe, will benefit you immensely in designing a life that’s less stressful.  Start today by signing up here.  It’s free.

Volunteer:  There are tons of opportunities to volunteer in December:  toy drives, serving meals to homeless, visit home-bound or those in nursing homes.  Not sure what’s available in your community?  Google “volunteer in (your town)” and start helping others today.

Drink Less:  Try the same approach as our quitting smoking section above.  During the holidays, you may also decide to avoid or limit parties that will be drink-focused.  If you are unable to stop drinking on your own, please seek professional help through a reputable rehabilitation center.  Ask your doctor or therapist for recommendations.

Here’s to making positive strides now by setting plans and habits in place that will help you succeed in the New Year and beyond!

As always, I appreciate you spending time with me here today.  Have a great day!

Jill xx

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