Set Yourself Up for “New Year’s Resolution” Success

I like a day where we have a worldwide holiday encouraging a new start. Here’s my question about making New Year’s Resolutions though: Is it fun to make them but impossible to keep them? Here are three things I’m thinking about to help make ’em stick:

1. It’s a Re-solution.

You probably noticed that I wrote “resolution” with a dash. That’s my New Year’s gift to you. A dash. (Okay, I’m re-gifting.) Thinking of it like a solution, instead of a nice-idea-but-who-knows-if-I’ll-keep-it-going, will remind me of my motivation during the year which I imagine… will keep me going. I’m asking myself: What do I want to solve?

2. You Commit with Your Time.

What you spend your time on is what you’re committed to. Sure, I can announce anything I want to achieve but will I really devote my time in 2019 to what it takes to get there? A trick: Realizing I have to start tomorrow and not “next year” makes it real and more possible to choose something realistic. For example, “Of course I’ll meditate every day next year! Wait. That’s tomorrow? Do I have to?” So maybe that’s not a sustainable resolution after all and I should choose something else. Or maybe I’ll decide I do want to spend my time on that. I’ll have to meditate on it. Haha. So, I’m asking myself: Which of these resolutions am I willing to start tomorrow? Today even?

3. Be Your Own Bumper Sticker.

Resolutions can be emotional goals. Attitude changes. Ways to spend time more calmly. Choose your own motto. One year I chose the motto “Go with my gut.” I remembered it all year long and it was fun, decisive, and actually helped. I became a writer by the end of that year. If you go the motto route, choose something that gives you a homebase so every time you think about it throughout the year it will ground you. I’m asking myself: Are there ways I want to change how I spend my time emotionally?

If you really think about making New Year’s Resolutions, think about this: someone made up the whole thing anyway! You can make resolutions any day of the year and even start them before midnight! But, what I do like about the year-end practice is, it reminds us to reflect and gives us permission to reset. Most of all, we can think of ways to spend our time a notch better next year. (AKA tomorrow. I’d better get on it.)