How New Year’s Resolutions Can Be Successful
By: Carlson Sandra
Tags: Success, My Story, Resolution, New Years, Goal

How New Year’s Resolutions Can Be Successful

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What does New Year’s mean to you? Coping with holiday debt? More cold weather, more people, more food, more work, more resolutions? No more extra time off, no more cheery decorations, no more allowance for alcohol, no more winter napping? Wait! Stop this Scrooge mentality. New Year’s doesn’t have to be like this!

New Year’s is a time that brings a sense of renewal. It is a time to think about new goals, newly revived motivations, and, yes, new resolutions. The New Year is a welcome ending to anything that might have gone awry in the passing year and provides a fresh start through the beginning of a brand new year. Let’s discuss some common pitfalls and how to keep the hope of a blessed New Year a reality.

Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not do something. This can include anything exciting, although preferably nothing felonious. Here is a list of the ten most common New Year’s resolutions. Do any sound familiar?

1. Improve health

2. Lose weight

3. Improve finances

4. Stop smoking/drinking.

5. Increase the time spent with loved ones.

6. Become more organized.

7. Learn something new.

8. Put more joy in life.

9. Travel.

10. Improve job situation

We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to have and keep resolutions. Where is that written? Take that pressure off the table and, instead, create a bucket list. If you haven’t seen the movie, Bucket List, with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, make a point of doing so. Check your local library for the DVD, or stream it through services such as Netflix and Hulu. It is a glorious reminder of how important living is. When swept up in the duties of life, we often lose sight of what is most central. Sign up for BucketList.org for weekly inspirational notices. Topics provided will inspire and supply information for pursuing life’s adventures.

Fun Fact: Dating back nearly 4000 years ago, we credit Babylonians with creating the concept of New Year’s resolutions. They were the first civilization to hold a New Year’s celebration, which included honoring their gods, and making promises such as paying debts or returning borrowed objects. They believed that if one kept these promises, the gods would smile upon them and give them a stellar year.

What goes wrong with resolutions?

Again, do any of these sound familiar?

1. We expect too much of ourselves.

2. We make too many resolutions.

3. We set unrealistic goals and time frames.

4. We go, Hercules, instead of breaking the goal down into smaller, doable chunks.

5. We do something someone else wants us to do instead of picking our true interest.

6. We don’t recognize that most resolutions include changing one’s way of review and behavior, plus assuming all will be effortless.

Let’s get practical.

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Let us now turn back to a few of the most common resolutions and reflect on how to make them a reality. Keep in mind it may be necessary to make adjustments to suit tastes, needs, interests, and resources. These ideas are just that — ideas. Use them to jump start efforts and make alterations along the way, which will keep things much more interesting.

Improving health

If you have ever been through a health scare, it is no wonder a desire to start a new year feeling healthier is on your list. All over the internet, there are hundreds of products touting a road to better health. Solid health results from better and simpler methods rather than an expensive supplement. Meg Dowell, a writer for LifeHack.org, offers simple methods to being healthier in her article, 5 Easy Ways to Stay Healthy and Fit. Research has proven the following tips always have a payoff:

1. Buy fewer processed foods. Processed foods contain chemicals that offer little to no nutritional value. Purer, perishable foods such as fresh produce, yogurt, and whole-grain bread offer exactly what we need with the right balance of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients without the added cost of supplements. Walk away from chips, soda, and frozen meals that contain extra sugar, sodium, and highly processed oils. Our bodies can’t make good use of these for energy, instead of adding to the waistline.

2. Make exercise a daily habit. This can be incorporated without a formal gym membership. Think about all the activities enjoyed as a child and revisit them as an adult. Time, not a friend? Read through another LifeHack.org article by writer, Anna Shelley, How to Exercise When You Really Don’t Have Time. It will surprise you at what counts as exercise and with little time on the table.

3. Skip the three meals a day mentality and work towards eating several, smaller meals in the day. Easier on the digestion and helps maintain continuous energy including a continuously elevated metabolism.

4. Track what you are eating and why you ate, to begin with. Were you bored, genuine hunger, out of habit? Review the list and scrutinize if it was a healthy choice. We all enjoy comfort foods, but often they’ve added calories with low nutritional value. Not sure if a particular food is healthy? Try Fooducate.com. This free app scans bar codes and reveals calories, fat, sodium, other ingredients and then provides a score on how healthy it is. Fooducate helps take the guesswork out of reading labels and understanding foods.

5. Schedule an annual physical with a doctor. This provides an overall view of current health status.

Fun Fact: CTPost.com reported that 48% of Americans prefer to celebrate New Year’s at home. Twenty-two percent go to a friend’s home, 22 percent don’t like to celebrate, and only nine percent go out at all.

Losing weight.

This resolution goes hand in hand with improving health. Per the CDC, over one-third of adults in the U.S. are obese. That’s just fewer than 40%! It is no wonder that this one comes up as a New Year’s resolution. Multitudes have failed this effort, mostly from picking a plan difficult to follow. This inevitably results in getting discouraged and abandoning the whole thing.

1. If obese, please first seek the advice of a doctor. When we are overweight, we often carry risk factors for diabetes, high blood pressure, and a host of health issues that need medical supervision.

2. Educate yourself. As discussed in the section Improving Health, seek articles on weight loss that provide simple, easy tactics. Do not spend a fortune on some miracle product with no science backing it up. Depriving yourself is also not an answer to weight loss. Weight loss is successful when one learns about better eating habits, ways to incorporate physical activities, and realistic goals. No one should lose 40 pounds in one week. Fast weight loss often results from water loss. A slower, steadier pace wins the race.

3. Look at EatingWell.com, which offers 7 Steps to Permanent Weight Loss. They commit this website to achievable goals towards both weight loss and keeping it off, gimmick-free, and offer a lot of advice on eating properly.

4. Ask why do you want to lose weight in the first place? Is it to gratify a spouse, boy/girlfriend, or your mother? Losing weight should be for you and only you. And how much weight should be lost — ten pounds, 20 pounds, or greater than 50? Who decided this . . . hopefully, a reliable medical source?

5. Get a buddy to keep up the enthusiasm, especially regarding exercise. Walking on wintry days can be more of a bummer if done alone, but becomes something to laugh about when done with a friend.

6. Have a long-term plan. A resolution needs time over the course of the year, not a week or even a month.

Improving finances

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There are literally oodles of information on managing money not only on the World Wide Web but also at libraries and bookstores. First, ask what the specific goal is — better money management, better savings tactics, and cost-of-living reduction? Or may better-investing tactics and/or improving a credit score? Money articles are often broken down into topics and knowing what is being sought not only saves time but provides better directives.

1. Track all expenses for at least one month. Break those expenses down into categories including necessities, household, fun extras, etc. Now review this list to see which category had the highest expenditures.

2. If the cost of living is higher on the list of expenses, inspect each amount, and scrutinize its necessity. For inspiration look at Irina Vasilescu’s, of Don’tPayFul.com, article How to Save Money: Top 100+ Money-Saving Tips and Ideas. One of the best websites for money-saving tips on all avenues of life is the Dollar Stretcher. Since 1996 they have provided tips on job-seeking, cost-of-living reductions, even retirement planning.

3. Credit history a concern? Dana Dratch of Bankrate.com offers 7 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score. She keeps it simple and manageable.

Keep in mind that anything related to money takes time. Money does not offer quick fixes. What improves over time stays intact over time.

Increasing time spent with loved ones.

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Who wouldn’t want more time with loved ones? May they be family or friends, those we care about are better than Prozac. With jobs and other responsibilities in life, time can be difficult to control.

1. When unable to visit with those we care about making good use of the phone, email, social media, or even good old-fashioned letter writing. Reaching out in any way shows how much they matter. And who wouldn’t love a letter in the mail versus a bill? It is always sure to bring a smile.

2. Skype is also a fun, free way to stay in touch. Now you get to face the person and hopefully laugh about life. No computer camera? No worries. Pick up one inexpensively at any drugstore or online.

3. Is it possible to meet up for a brief visit over a lunch break or coffee before work? Yes, this entails some time management but will always be worth the effort.

4. Examine what is infringing on time. Is it work, unexpected responsibilities, or costs? Pool all loose change in a jar to help collect extra moola. Use earned vacation time to take off an extra hour from work to spend with a loved one. Can any responsibility be temporarily delegated? Don’t give up on making schedule arrangements. Cherished moments are like hidden treasure waiting to be discovered.

5. COVID has definitely put a glitch into being with those we love. Keep in mind those coffee gatherings, birthday wishes, or any important event can occur via computer. Other ideas include drive-by celebrations, creating email videos, and the list is endless.

Improving the joy in life.

This is a loaded statement. Many situations can cause stress, and feeling hopeless about them is a common denominator. What to do — what to do?

1. First, examine what is not joyful in your life. Is it your boss, dead-end job, money, or toxic people? Once recognized specifically what is not joyful, then the strategies can begin.

2. Surround yourself with positive materials. Sara Maude, psychotherapist, and writer for Tiny Buddha offer How to Create Joy Today: 7 Tips for a Happy Life (https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-create-joy-today-7-tips-for-a-happy-life/). She places joy into reflective thinking and examination of what can hold someone back from feeling joy. Another place to find positive thoughts is via Pinterest.com. Put into the search “positive quotes” and an abundance of life inspiring words result. Read daily to push away glum thinking.

3. Is there something from your past holding you back? Suffering abuse, PTSD, a victim of a crime or divorce, or even something from childhood? These situations are serious and seeking help from a professional necessary. Powerful emotions often result in blocked thinking which in turn declines the ability to progress towards positive actions. There is no shame in asking for help from someone on the outside offering clarity. Don’t think you can survive hardship? CordeliaCallsItQuits.com offers many stories about adversity with remarkable endings. Everyone has a story. How we live will make a difference not only for ourselves, but often will be an inspiration to others. Learn how to make your story inspirational.

Improving job situation

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Too many of us have jobs instead of careers. Bosses, coworkers, obligatory requirements not only feel stressed but can feel soul-sucking. Working to make changes can feel like one is having a root canal without Novocain. Let’s not despair.

1. Make a list of the pros and cons of the current job. The cons direct our attention to what needs changing while the pros reflect what is going well. Start thinking of how each con can be attacked, but also work to understand why it is a con. Some of the most unpleasant tasks include hours and hours of sitting or standing with repetitive action. Gross and smelly also ranks towards the top. This process often results in an endless array of adjectives.

2. Feeling like there’s no future growth possibility, with no chance of a change in responsibilities? Take a course to expand skills. Perhaps the company has a sister organization that could offer fresh options. Talking with the boss or HR may also be helpful for suggestions.

3. Revamp that résumé. To check current trends, look at Monster.com, Indeed.com, or even the public library. Writing a résumé based on current job trends means getting noticed easier and faster.

4. Do a random search on these job sites to get insights into which companies are hiring and gaining suggestions on positions of interest. Learning where the rainbow is parked can make or break that job into a career.

5. Love job but not earnings? Learn a side hustle. RealWaystoEarn.com and PennyHoader.com are both excellent websites that provide plenty of ways to earn money on the side, perhaps even one that will be that next big profession.

Let’s wrap this up!

Have you noticed a pattern in the suggestions that can apply to any resolution?

1. Get information on the chosen goal. Do the research and talk to professionals if applicable.

2. Set up steps toward the goal, breaking it down into smaller, manageable nuggets.

3. Provide enough time to achieve the goal, preferably over the course of the entire year.

4.Have a buddy where necessary. A cheerleader is always refreshing and holds us accountable.

5. We can achieve any goal. Think about how exceptional the next New Year’s will be when you have accomplished something important in the current year.

I hope you have realized that the New Year is not the only time you can start a new year. That can occur anytime — any month, any week, and any day. The ability to start over, or begin an undertaking is not limited to a specified time period of the year. That would make things daunting and a true joy killer. If you truly have a desire to achieve something — anything — start NOW. The only thing holding you back is that Scrooge thinking. Bah! Hum-bug!

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Resources

Reader’s Digest Popular New Year’s Resolutions.

Benefits of New Year’s Resolutions

Psychology Today Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail

History Channel History of New Year’s Resolutions

LifeHacks.org

CDC Adult Obesity Facts

CTPost.com, Many Americans Don’t Party All Night on New Year’s Eve