7 Secrets To Sticking To Your Resolutions

As educators, we're great at setting goals for our students, but when it comes to our own New Year's resolutions, we often struggle; research shows that 80% of resolutions fail by February! With all the lesson planning, grading, classroom management, and personal lives we juggle, it's not surprising we find it tough to stick to our well-intentioned plans.

Strategies for Success

1. Start Small and Specific: Instead of broad resolutions like "exercise more" or "eat healthier," break them down into small, specific goals. Research shows that these manageable goals form the foundation of successful habit formation (Gardner et al., 2020). For example, use your planning period for a 15-minute walk, prep healthy snacks during Sunday lesson planning, or do five minutes of mindfulness before students arrive.
2. Make Your Goals Enjoyable: We stick with activities we genuinely enjoy (Ryan and Deci, 2020). Choose activities that bring you pleasure and joy rather than ones you think you "should" do. Love dancing? Make that your exercise - it takes no more time to have a quick boogy while making dinner ; ) Enjoy cooking with friends? Maybe that's your path to healthier eating.
3. Be Accountable: External accountability significantly increases success. A groundbreaking study in Nature by Milkman et al. (2021) examined what really works for behavior change. Setting up external accountability—like booking a class, using reminders, telling others about your resolution, or tracking progress—significantly increases success rates. Think of it as lesson planning for your own personal goals!
4. Support Networks: Ntoumanis et al. (2020) found that social support is crucial for maintaining new habits. Share your goals with colleagues, join a supportive community, or find an accountability partner - if these are online, not much extra time is needed. And of course a coach makes an excellent accountability partner and is someone you can clarify goals with to begin with.
5. Stay Flexible: Psychological flexibility is key, especially during more difficult and challenging school periods (Kashdan and Rottenberg, 2021). Adjust your goals during report writing periods, have backup plans for unexpected duties, and practice self-compassion during high-stress times like test or exam weeks. For example, it's good enough to do something on a daily-ish basis rather than give yourself a hard time for not doing something every single day.
6. Track Your Progress: Monitoring progress is also effective at helping us stick to goals. (Harkin et al., 2020). Use your school planner for personal goals too, track habits alongside lesson plans, and celebrate small wins in your grade book, diary, agenda, gratitude journal.
7. Smart Habits: Tiny changes can lead to remarkable results (James Clear, 2021). Imagine you're the pilot on a long-haul flight. Tiny weeny tweaks on the yoke/control wheel can lead to a huge difference in destination over a long period of time; small and consistent is key. And stack new habits onto existing habits or school routines, use classroom transitions as reminder triggers, and change and adapt your classroom space to support your goals.

Getting Started

Choose one small goal/resolution that aligns with your teaching schedule. Think about when your energy naturally peaks, what existing routines you can build on, and which colleagues and or friends/family might share similar goals.

Remember, as teachers, we have unique advantages in goal-setting. We understand the power of consistent effort, how to break down big goals into manageable steps, how to track progress, and the importance of community support.

Success isn't about dramatic transformations—it's about small, consistent changes that fit into your real teaching life. You already have the skills to succeed; you use goal-setting, tracking, and positive reinforcement with your students every day. Start with one small change this week, build upon your existing routines, and draw on your teacher community for support. Most importantly, apply the same patience and encouragement to yourself that you show others every day.

Here's to a year of manageable, achievable, fun goals and meaningful progress, one lesson at a time! Good luck!

And if you'd like more clarity with your resolutions and/or goals generally, DM me for a chat. I help busy midlife women teachers to regain control and avoid burnout so that they can get back to enjoying life. Packages of 4/6/8/10 start at €360 inc vat/btw.

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