Ditch Your New Year Resolutions. Here’s How to Reset Instead.

Did you know that roughly 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February? This year, rather than set yourself up for failure, try a “reset” instead. Whether your “New Year, New Me” goals include weight loss, eating healthier, starting or expanding your business, investing in real estate or spending more quality time with your family, here’s how to reach your 2022 goals no matter how ambitious they may be.

1. Get Clear on What Matters Most

It’s easy to approach the new year with an over-eager to-do list disguised as goals and resolutions, but have much thought have you put into WHY you set those goals in the first place? Why are they important to you? How would achieving these goals influence your life?

If you can’t answer these questions easily, you may need to consider clarifying your goals prior to embarking on achieving them this year. Uncertainty about your goals creates room for indifference, confusion, and distance between your aspirations. This is a recipe for having them fizzle out sooner than you can say “Happy New Year!”

We recommend setting time aside to really determine what matters to you and focus only on the activities that bring you closer to those things. A goal can quickly become just another thing to do when there is no meaning behind it. Getting clear on what matters to you will help filter out unnecessary aims that really won’t make a difference if you reach them or not.

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2. Focus on Self-Care

For a clean slate and to prevent burnout, schedule in tons of you-time this year. Your self-care routine may look different from the next person, but whether it’s taking more bubble baths, journaling, committing to an exercise routine or taking your meditation practice to the next level, loving up on you has proven positive results, including increased productivity.

3. If it Isn’t Broken… Don’t Fix It

Some try to set goals and make life changes in the new year because that is what everyone else is doing. Instead of jumping on the wagon for the sake of tradition or trend, consider not changing much about yourself or your life, if anything. According to a Psychology Today article, you may not be ready for change anyways, which is why creating a New Year resolution may more than likely end in failure. If you find yourself making and breaking resolutions every year, you may be comfortable where you are and change may be unnecessary.

4. Create (Doable) Short-Term Tasks That Tie into Your Long-Term Goal

If you can take your goals and put them into bite-sized action plans, you are more likely to achieve them. Instead of coming up with overwhelming goals that can easily discourage you, create easy, doable tasks that help you reach your larger goals overall. Start small. Start simple. For example, if one of your goals is to lose 20 pounds before the summer, set a goal to lose three to four pounds a month, rather than burn yourself out, hitting the gym and going on diets you can’t commit to in the long-term. Ask yourself, “What smaller, day-to-day thing I can do that will help me stay on track?”

What are you planning to accomplish this year? Comment below! We’d love to hear about your goals.