The Best Ways to Make (and Keep) Your New Year’s Resolutions

When a new year is about to start, many people decide it’s a good time for a fresh start, and the most typical way to do it is through New Year’s resolutions. Nevertheless, numbers show that more than half of all those resolutions fail. How can we make lasting changes to reach our goals then?

As well as looking at some New Year’s resolution ideas, we’ll examine why people fail with them, how you can make yours, and how to stick to them.

Why do people make New Year’s resolutions?

There is a certain appeal about making a change at the start of the new year. New beginnings offer the possibility for a fresh start, a chance to put the past behind and look for a better future. The new year ahead can feel like a blank slate, full of possibility and potential. Individuals also feel a sense of control by planning resolutions for the new year. It is a natural and cultural element for many people. Then why there’s such a high failure rate? All of these factors can put a lot of pressure on people to make these changes, and this is when neglect comes into play.

Here are some tips on how to make – and keep! – your new year’s resolutions.

Make smaller good proposals

Resolutions are good, productive ways to set goals and intentions for the new year. Positive changes, like ditching a bad habit and adopting a healthier one, are always good. But change is hard, and humans are creatures of habit. Unless you are very motivated, have good social support, and have the right environment, it is difficult to make lasting behavior changes. This is why you have to set your goal in a way you can reach them: they have to be actionable and achievable. Otherwise, it’s almost like setting yourself up to fall short.

Be specific

When it comes to setting resolutions, it’s easy to set unachievable goals that could lead to nothing. We already mentioned the SMART goal-setting strategy. This is another good way to make it work.

It has to be specific: “learn how to write better emails in English” is more specific than a general “improving my English”.
It has to be measurable: “I will learn 10 new English words every week.”
It has to be attainable: learning 100 new words every week is probably pretty hard to do. Learning 5 or 10, however, is doable.
It has to be relevant: learning better English is it really what you want and need?
It has to be time-sensitive: giving yourself a time frame or deadline will help you keep the resolution.

Don’t set too many goals

A common mistake in resolution settings is having too many goals to aim to. Learning different languages, new job skills, or eliminating 5 bad patterns may sound wonderful, but we are not superheroes. We only have so much time, energy, or funds to spend on self-improvement, so having too many resolutions is bound to make you give up completely. It’s better to tackle one resolution nicely than multiple resolutions inadequately.

Share your resolutions with others

It’s great to make a resolution for yourself and even write it down, but if no one else knows about it, it’s easier to overlook it. Sharing your desires can help to bring some responsibility to your resolutions. You don’t have to go into exact details, but you can tell those closest to you that you’re working towards certain goals. In this way, you will feel a sense of obligation, and when you don’t follow through, it would be like you let everyone down, yourself included. This sense of guilt is actually often more powerful than self-motivation. And when you do succeed, the people you shared with will celebrate with you!

Now you are ready to set your 2022 resolutions! Measure your progress regularly to see how you get closer and closer to your goals.

Good luck with the year ahead!

Your Humanoo Team