For many people, a new year signifies a new beginning, and as we kiss 2019 goodbye (finally), it’s also time to welcome a whole new decade. I don’t know about you, but I am absolutely not the same person I was in 2010 (god, I would hope not). Especially as current college students, the past decade has brought so many changes to who we are as people—we’ve survived the awkwardness of adolescence and now reside in the psychological no man’s land of “emerging adulthood,” where the boundaries are fuzzy and the expectations have been changing to match our transforming cultural landscape. For example, people are starting families later in life, are more likely to be attending school longer for higher degrees, and often move back with parents after college before officially living on their own. The next few years are bound to completely alter your lifestyle.
Given everything that 2020 (and beyond) symbolizes, it’s natural to want to make big changes in your life. This is the first decade where I’m self-aware enough to be able to start planning what I want from my life and where I want to be in the coming years. Of course, this isn’t to say that you can’t make changes in your life at any time, but if you’re one of the many who use New Year’s resolutions as ways to set new goals, it is actually possible to keep up that motivation throughout the year. Like many (or, let’s face it, most) people, my resolutions often slip away as the year goes on, and I lose track of that January vision.
In 2020, I’ve decided to try a new approach: exploring scientifically proven tactics to keep up my goal motivation. Psychologists have long studied the ways that people achieve goals and maintain motivation, and here are the top tips I’ve found to keep your resolutions on track.
- Visual cues can keep you on track.
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Studies have shown that behaving consistently with the goals you want to achieve boosts self-esteem—as hard as it may be, much of the battle of keeping yourself on track is simply doing the thing. But psychologists have also found that seeing a tangible representation of your progress helps improve your self-perception. This 2019 study (Howansky, K., Dominick, J. K., & Cole, S) found that people who recently ate healthy meals or exercised perceived their bodies as healthy after looking in a mirror. Because we rely so much on sensory clues to understand the world, combining goal-achieving behavior with a physical manifestation of your progress could have you feeling better about keeping up with that resolution.
- Mood and mindset play a role in motivation.
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How do you achieve goals? Do you keep an eye on your desired outcome and the long-term benefits of achieving goals, or do you focus on the now and the plans you’re going to make to meet your goals? A 2019 study (Han, E., & Gershoff, A. D.) calls the former an outcome mindset and the latter an implemental mindset. Being in a positive mood can be beneficial to those who are outcome-oriented; positive moods have been proven to help you think quicker and develop new ideas. Thinking positively can make you more likely to think of more options to achieve your goals, which to an outcome mindset person means that goals appear to be more achievable. If you’re of the implemental mindset, being in a positive mood may decrease motivation: having more options to choose from to achieve a goal could become overwhelming and make your resolution feel too inaccessible. But fear not: if you’re someone with an implemental mindset who becomes overwhelmed by too many options, forming a sequential plan (instead of trying to explore every option of achieving a goal) can offset this decrease in motivation from a positive mood.
- Don’t define your progress by what other people are doing.
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In the age of social media, we’re constantly surrounded by people showing the world their lives (or idealized versions of their lives). Comparing yourself to people who have achieved the same resolution as you first has a negative effect on your motivation. Having a space to share your goals and keep people on the same track as you motivated can be helpful for fostering community, but seeing other people achieve your goal before you hurts your motivation, even more so than when you just see someone ahead of you that also hasn’t achieved the goal yet. This 2019 study (Chan, E., & Briers, B.) suggests that it is more helpful to compare yourself to people just ahead of you on the way to achieving a goal than it is to look at someone who has already accomplished what you’re trying to do. The former invokes competition that can increase your motivation to catch up to the person, but the latter can harm your self-image and make your resolution feel unattainable.
Whatever your 2020 resolution may be, I encourage you to keep at it throughout the year (yes, maybe I am @ing myself here). If you’re a bit of a psychology nerd like I am, these findings might make it easier for you to stay on track, and there are countless other psychological tactics for you to explore if you find these helpful!