How to Revive Your Forgotten New Year’s Resolution

Many people start the year feeling optimistic that they will achieve their New Year’s resolution. Sadly, it is harder than we’d like it to be.

What was your New Year’s resolution earlier this year?

How have you been keeping up with your New Year’s resolution so far?

If you haven’t been able to… You are not alone! Surveys have shown that over 90% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned within just a few months (Norcross et al., 2002). This might seem quite unfortunate as most people start the year feeling very optimistic about achieving their New Year’s resolution. Some of us might have thought that by this month, we would have been?more productive, drunk less caffeine, or had a better work-life balance. Sad to say, the clock is ticking fast and we are still far from reaching our goals.?

According to James Clear (2022), a well-known author and behavioral researcher, most of us create a New Year’s resolution that is too big and not measurable. We might be setting goals that are unrealistic and vague – which makes them too hard to do each day. New habits should be straightforward and achievable. A few examples are:

• Want to be more productive? Create a clearer goal such as “Writing 3 reports in one day”
• Wish you could drink less caffeine? Don’t completely cut? coffee off? your life, but start with goals such as “Drink one coffee a day, maximum”
• Want to have a better work-life balance? Start by setting a goal of “Going out to dinner with my family twice a week”

If you already have clear and realistic goals, that is great! But here are some tips to change your daily routine and successfully reach your goals:

1. Expect obstacles. No matter how strong-willed and confident you are, there will always be some kind of obstacle in your journey. It is important to identify possible obstacles and create plans on how to face them. Setbacks and failures will most likely happen, so don’t be defeated – just keep going no matter what!
2. Find support, whether it is from your partner, best friend, family, or even boss. Having extra support helps you feel more motivated and at the same time, holds you accountable for your own goals.
3. Make it fun! Creating?new habits can be?very exciting if done wholeheartedly. You can have fun by self-rewarding yourself each time you succeed or by doing it with a group of friends that you like.?

As there are only a few months left in 2023, it is definitely your time to revive your New Year's Resolution! Goodluck creating the life you want ??

References:

Clear, J. (2022). 5 common mistakes that cause new habits to fail. Retrieved from?https://jamesclear.com/habits-fail ?

Norcross, J. C., Mrykalo, M. S., & Blagys, M. D. (2002). Auld lang Syne: Success predictors, change?processes, and self‐reported outcomes of New Year's resolvers and nonresolvers. Journal of clinical psychology, 58(4), 397-405.

Oscarsson, M., Carlbring, P., Andersson, G., & Rozental, A. (2020). A large-scale experiment on?New Year’s resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals. Plos one, 15(12), e0234097.?

Vinney, C. (2023). The psychology behind why new year’s resolutions fail. Retrieved from?https://www.verywellmind.com/why-new-years-resolutions-fail-6823972 ?