By Sara
Have you made New Year’s resolutions, year after year, that never seem to “stick”? Oh my friend, I feel ya’! I have years of experience with this! Finally, in 2021 I had better success in keeping to resolutions that I’ve made, and want to share some helpful tips with you today.
It’s that time of year for us to make a list of new year resolutions. This is the perfect time to dream big. If you have a big, audacious goal, you will increase your odds of success by following some simple, small steps that will put you on the right path to crushing your annual resolution(s). Let’s get your best results ever this year!
“Everything you want is on the other side of consistency.”
-Jasmine Star
Why do you want to make a change?
First things first, know the reasons why you are choosing those specific goals, and go deep with these.
The more clear you can get, the more these will actually mean something to you on a bad day when you just want to quit. Your reasons why you chose your goal will fuel your determination.
Do you feel stuck with your wellness goals? Do you feel like you are making so many healthy choices, and not seeing results? How will reaching your wellness goals change your life?
What is your life going to look like a year from now if you don’t reach your health goals? What version of yourself do you want to become? If you want resolutions that stick, you will need to be clear on this.
Pick realistic goals:
One key to maintaining success with any resolution is to write them as goals. And not just goals, but SMART goals. I’m sure you’ve heard of this goal setting acronym;
Specific: Make your goals specific, to help you know what you want to achieve.
Measurable: Being able to measure your goals means you will be able to measure progress towards your goal.
Attainable: You want to dream big, but then break bigger goals into challenging, but reasonable steps.
Relevant: This helps you to maintain your discipline, by knowing why you want to achieve your goals.
Time-based: Every goal needs a time frame that is realistic, to be sure you don’t get discouraged.
For an example, say you want to lose weight in 2022. Don’t just say you want to get into better shape by the end of the year. Your (SMART) end goal may look something like this: “I will lose 50 pounds in 2022 by walking for at least 30 minutes every morning at 7AM and increasing the leafy greens I eat in my diet”. Specificity about how you will achieve your goals gives clarity.
You might break this up by saying you want to lose 12 pounds each quarter and setting goals for what percentage of your diet will be composed of plant-based foods and how many steps you will achieve each month.
Further break it down into monthly goals such as “I will go on a walk on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays around my neighborhood for 30 minutes in order to lose 4lbs by JAN 31.”
By breaking a larger goal into small goals, you will have easier to achieve bits that give you momentum moving forward. Additionally, looking at losing 1 pound a week is so much easier than looking at losing 50 pounds over the year. It will still require a good action plan and some hard work, but focusing on a weekly and monthly goal is much less daunting! The reward of making resolutions that stick is so worth it once you reach your goals!
Need help to reach fitness goals through the rest of the winter season? Check out our post regarding this here!
Track your Goals:
Start by tracking how many steps you get in a typical day, and add these up over a week. Then make a goal to increase that number, week by week. Or you can add an activity such as taking a daily walk, or multiple shorter daily walks, and increasing the time that you walk.
Log your meals so that you can see your progress towards eliminating animal foods from your diet. Use your fitness tracking watch to monitor your steps and set a goal for each month. Weigh yourself weekly, at the same time in the same clothing. If you are tracking the data, the numbers, you can see your trends and see where you need to make any changes. The data won’t lie to you.
Tracking your progress allows you to see big picture progress towards your goals, and can keep you motivated and on the path to victory.
To kick it up a notch, get a planner for your 2022 goals. Schedule in due dates for your smaller steps towards reaching your goal, and check in regularly, noting related accomplishments. This will allow you to better visualize your progress and help you to keep your goals top of mind.
Want some tips on ways to sneak daily physical activity into your daily routine? Check out this post!
Make a Plan:
The point is to break your big goals into achievable smaller goals that will keep you on track throughout the year.
In this way, reaching your goal by the end of the year is just a matter of consistency. A lot of people find the first step of making a plan is the most important part. By breaking a big goal down into reasonable bits, you can stay on top of your progress.
Set your goals, and then write down the steps to get you there as your monthly and weekly goals in a planner.
Ever heard the saying “Failing to plan is planning to fail”? No where does it become more applicable than when you want to be sure to make resolutions that stick!
Make it a habit:
Once you have a plan, make your action steps into a new habit that you practice on the daily. You don’t need to bring about a huge change all of a sudden. Making small improvements each week that build on each other will benefit you without overwhelming you.
One of the best ways to do this is to attach each new action to an established habit so that it will be anchored into your daily routine. For example, each day you walk to the mailbox to check your mail. How about you leash up your dog, and go for a 10 minute walk prior to picking up the mail each day? This way you increase your activity and daily movement, while making the short walk a new habit that you do every single day. After all, everything you want is on the other side of consistency.
Consistency creates healthy habits that bring about behavior change and will bring your goals into reach, giving you power to make your new year’s resolutions stick.
Give yourself accountability:
Once you have your plan, make yourself accountable by announcing your goal to family members or friends or on social media. Or find an online support group, and see if you can find someone to be your accountability partner, setting a monthly check in to discuss your progress towards each of your goals. Social support is just so important.
By the end of January, if you are on track, you will have some momentum to carry you into the next month.
And if you aren’t quite hitting your goals, what is area are you struggling the most with? Do you need to see if there is a neighbor to walk with you so you’re sure not to miss your daily walk? Or if the nutrition is difficult, could you schedule time with a dietician to help you come up with more ideas for meals and how to meal plan more effectively?
If life gets in the way, just sit down and reassess your goals, and your reasons why you want to achieve them. Then look at your goals for each week and month. Are they still challenging but doable? If you find they are not as realistic as you initially thought, it’s ok to make changes to your plan.
By New Year’s eve in 2022 what will you have accomplished?
Will you look back at 2022 as another year of the same old actions getting the same old results? Or will you look back and feel pride in all that you accomplished this year?
With these tips we hope you will make a fresh start, realize your potential, and understand that each little step towards your new resolution is cumulative. Consistency will ensure you don’t end up short of your goal. I know that you will be armed with the know-how to make resolutions that stick
Check out this post for a look back at 2021, and reflections on being vegan.
So what goals are you pumped to crush in 2022 friend? What specific behaviors will you be putting into place? I wish you all the best in your venture towards making real change that lasts through the year. Cheers to accomplishing all your goals!
