Why You Shouldn’t Have A New Year’s Resolution

Do you make make New Year's resolutions each year? Do you typically achieve them by the end of the year?

Chances are you don't, and you're not alone.

A resolution is defined as "a firm decision to do or not to do something"or "the quality of being determined or resolute".

Making a firm decision to do something is a great start to achieving a new goal. But it's only a small part of achieving it.

A resolution also tends to be a very broad and vague. Ex: "I want to get in shape"

For every goal you set, it needs to be much more intentioned and much more specific than that. Ex: "I want to lose _ lbs (because thats the number I associate with being "in shape")"

For every goal you set, you should also connect it to your WHY you want to achieve that goal. Ex: "I want to lose _ lbs, because I am so tired of feeling this way".

Dig deep on your "Why" because if this is too broad, it won't resonate with you on a deep enough level to connect with it as often as you need to achieve it. Ex: "I want to lose _ lbs, because I am so tired of feeling this way that I cannot go beyond another year of it".

Chances are your goal will take more than 1 hour, 1 day, or 1 week to achieve. You will need to break it down into small, repetitive, and measurable tasks. Your goal is even farther from being a reality if you don't account for this from the get-go. Be realistic in the time you think it will take you to be able to hit your goal, and the time you can dedicate to committing to it. Ex: "I want to lose _ lbs in _ months, and to do this I will go to the gym _ x/week".

Any goal you set should be SMART

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time-sensitive

Of course chances are you still won't hit every goal you set, but if you go about your goal setting in this way, you will have increased your chances quite a bit. You may have gotten part way and realized it was not as realistic as you thought, and you can adjust your timeline, etc as needed. What a great place to be in!

So instead of setting a Resolution for this year, make some goals instead. And be sure to write them down because things that get written down get measured, and things that get measured get done.✨