Its a new year, and a new you! Here’s how to set a New Year’s resolution and make it successful!
Have you ever made the New Year’s resolution to have a healthier lifestyle? You eat healthy meals with protein and vegetables, you exercise and have sore muscles, maybe you even imagine yourself in the new outfit you bought. Then one week in, you look at yourself in the mirror and look pretty much the same, followed by feelings of disappointment and discouragement as motivation dwindles away.
So how can you make your resolution successful and lasting?
The first thing you want to do is make it realistic and be realistic about what you can achieve and realistic about the time it takes to achieve that. Much to our chagrin, most things take time. Often more time than our attention spans! What you need is a plan!
Doing these 5 things will set your resolution up for success:
Be specific (ie: Run one full mile by February 1st.)
Make it measurable (ie: Walk 1mi M, W, F -jog 30 seconds/3 mins. Double running time every 2x.)
Make it attainable (ie: 1 mile)
Be realistic (ie: 3x/week on days when you can allot the time needed)
Set a time frame (ie: 1 month)
Some examples of what to do and what not to do when setting a goal using those 5 things:
Don’t: I will eat more vegetables (This is not specific enough nor is it measurable)
Do: I will eat 3 vegetables a day
Bonus: I will eat 3 vegetables a day which I will choose from this list of vegetables I like
Don’t: We're going to start eating dinner as a family phone free
Do: We'll eat dinner as a family phone free on days with no schedule conflicts: T, Th, Sun at 6pm
Bonus: We'll have phone free family dinners -put our phones in another room and plan meals ahead
*Keep in mind when setting your resolution’s length of time, it takes a minimum of 21 days to start a habit. To be sure, set your length of time for longer (ie: 30+ days)
For family oriented New Year’s resolutions, try some of these ideas:
(personalize them and make them specific for your family)
Family game hour
Reading together before bedtime
Get outside together X number of times per week
Leave all electronics in another room for meal times.
*One more tidbit to remember. Change is exciting, but also challenging. It’s new and it's uncomfortable. Family game night in your imagination will probably be different than family game night in reality. The first time you try this, it may be a total bust. Little Suzy might be frustrated that she doesn’t understand the game and little Johnny may cry if he loses, while your partner may feel bored and you feel like this was one big fail. Expect that this might might happen, but don't give up! Push through and keep up with it anyway. You're starting something new and it will feel more natural over time. Calm + Consistent = Success
Happy New Year!
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