Make 2020 the year you stick to your New Year’s resolutions!
This year conquer that race you’ve been eying or organize the over-nighter you’ve been fantasizing about.
Take advantage of these sleepy days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve that provide the perfect opportunity to create the year of your dreams. Mix a hot toddy, grab a pen and follow these three tips to make this year’s resolutions stick!
1. Own It. Setting aside quiet time allows you to think about what you really want to accomplish or change this year. Waiting to the last minute leaves us grasping for ideas and too often we resolve to do things we think we should want, but the goals don’t actually align with our values or lifestyle.
Be specific about your goals. Don’t merely write that you’ll work out more often in the coming year, but add when you’ll find time in your schedule. Add whether your route to fitness will be at the gym or outside. Create a series of smaller steps that you can take to reach your goal.
Next, arrange your life to support your goals. If you need equipment or a gym membership to make your goal happen, now is the time. Consider other obligations and talk with your partner about how you can support one another’s goals in 2020, whether it means swapping chores or hitting the gym together on date night.
2. Share Them. Telling friends and family about your resolutions can help your stick-to-it-ness. Enlist your friends most likely to hold you accountable, thing of the coach- and cheerleader-types you know. Skip the naysayers.
Better yet, find others who share your New Year’s resolutions and motivate each other. If you’re goal it to hit the gym more often, the group dynamic of workout classes provide a community of accountability. Whatever your goal, the more you talk about it, the more likely you are to find someone who made the same one. Sharing the journey enhances the ups and minimizes the downs.
It’s not enough to tell your family and friends your resolutions at the start of the year. According to research from the Dominican University of California, while those who told friends and family about their goals did better than those who didn’t, people who emailed others weekly progress updates did even better.
3. Get Over It. Make a vow to do the best you can under the circumstances and forgive yourself for the occasional slip-up. Don’t beat yourself up, because nobody is perfect and the minor misses are an expected part of the process. Perfection leads to the all-or-nothing view of the world, which can end with goal-setters to abandon their goals altogether. Better to acknowledge your mistakes, dust yourself off, and reset your sights on your 2020 goals.
Make your goals something you intensely want and capture that emotion in a way you can tap into when temptation leads you astray. Write down your goals and post them in a place where you’ll see it often, whether that’s by your mirror, refrigerator or computer. Follow these three tips and you’re sure to make 2020 the year you do keep your resolutions.
Cheers to a year of becoming the best you yet!
~ Mountain Mama
