The New Year is always a time of great ambition, reflected by the overcrowded gyms, sudden health fads, self-help book sales, random new hobbies, etc. Then February rolls around and reality hits. The gym feels like a chore, new habits are inconsistent at best, and the once strong motivation has fizzled out… sound familiar?
Here’s the thing: maybe your resolutions didn’t actually fail. Rather, you just didn’t set them up for success. It’s time to make February the new January, but even better. Make it the month to reflect, reframe, refine, and restart. My personal favorite method to refer to comes from the Nanji twins, who graduated from Harvard, became published research authors, and worked with top companies (notably Microsoft, Pfizer, and Hyatt). Without further ado, here are the steps to revamping your resolutions:
“It’s time to make February the new January, but even better. Make it the month to reflect, reframe, refine, and restart.”
Lily Moore
1. Create a working document to contain your *revamped* resolutions
The Nanji twins recommend a Google document, but Microsoft Word or even on paper could work, so long as this is a medium that you can continue to reflect on, add/subtract/rework, etc. Writing these resolutions down is the most vital part of this process, as it will force you to clarify and focus on what you want, as well as enable you to physically track your progress. Studies have found that people are significantly more likely to achieve goals just by writing them down.
2. Write down 5 major categories in your life
In order to figure out what major categories to include, what I’ve personally found to be helpful is working backward by first writing down a rough list of all the things that I may possibly want to accomplish, and then finding ones that are similar and creating a category that encompasses them. For example, I may want to improve my skincare routine, eat more vegetables, and go on more hikes. From this, I would create the category “Wellness”. For the sake of example, I will use the categories “Relationship,” “Academic,” “Career,” “Wellness,” and “Personal Development”.
3. Under each of the five categories, write 2-5 goals
Create two to five overarching goals to go under each category, or if you previously listed goals to come up with the categories, organize them accordingly. At this point, it’s still okay to keep these more general, such as “eating healthier”, “working out consistently”, etc.
4. Write down ACTIONABLE STEPS under each goal
This step is where people may typically fall short. While “eating healthier” may be something that you start out being mindful of, without more structure, it’s easier for it to get lost in the noise of the million other things your brain is thinking about. Writing down actionable steps, preferably with numbers involved, make these goals exponentially more digestible. For example, under the category of “Wellness” may be the goal “Drink more water.” Actionable steps would therefore include “purchase a water bottle that measures intake” and “drink 11.5 cups of water per day.”
5. Every month, REVISIT YOUR DOC
As mentioned before, this is a working doc, meaning you are constantly keeping it updated to track your progress. The Nanji twins recommend highlighting goals green if achieved, yellow if “in progress,” and red if certain goals may need to be re-evaluated. Throughout everything, it is most important to be honest and forgiving with yourself. It’s amazing to challenge yourself with these goals, but at the same time it is okay if you have to change them around to be more realistic to your lifestyle. It’s all about celebrating any small win you can along the way, because at the end of the day, the process of these resolutions is one of the most important and enjoyable parts.