3 Step Plan for How To Set and Keep New Year’s Resolutions

 As a kid, I loved the first day of school. The new pens and notebooks and binders and paper. New schedule, new classes, new learning possibilities, new goals.

Now that I’m not a student anymore, that’s how I feel about New Years. New calendar. New tax year and savings year. New life possibilities.

I can’t remember the first time I heard about the idea of New Years’ resolutions but I think there is an innate part of me that has always made them and appreciated the process. I’ve been making resolutions as long as I remember.

Here’s the shocking part: I have actually managed to keep my resolutions! Well, most of them anyway.

I’m pretty sure that we have all heard that 80% of people fail at their resolutions by February so what’s the magic formula to be one of the few who can consistently keep new years resolutions?

Having a plan, reviewing it regularly, and taking action.

Resolutions are not meant to be pie-in-the-sky wishes that someday, maybe, hopefully, they will come true. They are meant to take that wish and apply the “how.” You need to figure out what you can do to accomplish that goal or make that dream or hope a reality. Then you resolve to take action toward that goal.

Something like 90% of what we do is done out of habit. So if we want to achieve certain goals or resolutions, the easiest way would be to make the steps towards them into habits.

The simplest method to make your plan is to download my Habit Tracker Workbook. It will walk you through a quick brainstorming session for goal setting in different areas of your life, and then help you figure out how to accomplish that and where to begin.

The workbook also includes a specially designed habit tracker that you can hang up to help you regularly review and allows you to get that satisfaction of checking off that little box each time you take that step forward in action as you begin to succeed at your resolutions. (Bit of neuroscience for you: That little dopamine rush at checking off a box makes you more likely to want to follow through!)

A few simple yet powerful ways to create new habits to help you keep your New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Visual reminders: Write out the habits that you want to create that will get you closer to your goal. Hang them up around your house in areas where you’ll see them and be regularly reminded of what you want to accomplish. Some high traffic places are above the kitchen sink, on the bathroom mirror, on the fridge, near your computer. You could hang up just the paper or even get frames to put them in. My favorite solution is a simple page protector because I can easily switch them out to work on a new habit each month. It also protects the paper from my little people’s hands and from splatter of dishwater.

2. Audio reminders: Most people have a cell phone and nearly all cell phones have an alarm capability. Set an alarm to remind you to about your habit.

3. Physical anchors: Evaluate your day and recognize the things that you do by habit and tie another habit to it. For example, I already drink a coffee each day but want to increase my water intake. So I drink my water before I allow myself a coffee. In an effort to reduce/eliminate pain from a back injury a few years ago, I want to strengthen my core. I’m going to tie core exercises to my husband’s lunch hour (so he can hold the baby).

If you’ve been looking for ideas for new years resolutions, you can check out last weeks post for inspiration and then enter your email to get my free printable habit tracker and workbook. Keep in mind the information you’ve learned in this article (visual reminders, audio reminders, and physical anchors) and you’ll finally be one of the people who can keep your new years resolutions and begin finding peace and success in the New Year.