Once all the Christmas hype has passed, I genuinely dislike the month of December. New Year’s Eve sucks because I always do something lame but feel like I should be doing something amazing. New Year’s Day is basically the worst holiday every because absolutely nothing exciting happens, and then you can’t even go shopping because the stores are closed. The only thing about the end of the year that is appealing is the concept of New Year’s Resolutions—it’s like a chance to start over at life and break all those annoying/destructive habits that have been consuming our lives for the past year. It’s like in when Bridget Jones decides to keep a journal and promises herself by that time the next year, she’ll have her life in order. The problem is that we always start out strong and then by the end of the year we’re back to our horrible eating habits, major procrastination, and going to the gym zero times per week. I am extremely guilty of resolution breaking, but this year I’ve decided to do something about it. In an effort to find out why I suck at keeping my New Year’s Resolutions, I dug up my old journals to examine my past resolutions, coming to some enlightening conclusions on where I went wrong in previous years. If you also fail at New Year’s Resolutions, then this guide will probably be helpful.
Three Things That Are Wrong With Your New Year’s Resolutions:
- They’re not practical. Make sure your goals are realistic. Sure, we all want to look like Victoria’s Secret models, but do we really have enough time to dedicate to this goal? Many of us are busy juggling things like school, work, and internships, and we should plan our resolutions around our busy schedules.
- They’re too specific. ‘Eat healthy’ is not an acceptable resolution. What even is healthy? What does being ‘healthy’ entail? In order to keep this resolution, determine the definition of healthy that you are trying to achieve. Maybe it means cutting all fast food out of your diet, or going Paleo. Whatever it is, make sure your resolution is specific enough for you to know when you’re keeping it, or breaking it.
- They’re not that important to you. If you have tons of resolutions for the new year, narrow them down to a more reasonable number like three or four. Make sure that they’re important to you and that you’re serious about achieving them!
Tips For Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions:
- Write it down. People who write down what they eat are more likely to stick to their eating plans, and the same goes for other goals. Tracking your progress in a journal or notebook will help you keep your resolutions.
- Visualize it. Gandhi said, “Man often becomes what he believes himself to be”. This could mean picturing yourself acing a test in your mind or putting a picture of Jillian Michaels on your fridge, but whatever your goal is, visualizing it will help it become a reality.
- Don’t get discouraged. We all slip up now and then, so don’t give up if your goal seems difficult at first. You may make mistakes, but you’ve got all of 2015 to resolve them!