As 2020 is now in full swing, you have probably been asked what your New Year’s resolution is. New Year’s resolutions have been around since the ancient Babylonians first started the tradition, nearly 4,000 years ago. For being around for so long, they surely have positive impacts on our society. However, are New Year resolutions really that beneficial to people?
When thinking about the question it led me to think about even more questions. Such as: why does our society place the idea that difference between one minute from 11:59pm to 12:00am changes you in some aspect of your life? Why are people required to wait till the new year to start to try to improve yourself? While I do think that trying to better yourself is good and has positive impacts on some people’s lives, it’s kind of odd to wait till the new year.
The idea of a New Year’s resolution is a little bit contradictory to the purpose of them. Society shouldn’t make you feel that you need to change yourself, that should come from you wanting to change. So for this article I am going to talk about how to achieve your goals. This way you don’t need to wait for January 2021, to start your New Year’s Resolution, and you can use it for whenever you feel like there is something you want to work on or change. For some people, making new year’s resolutions are very beneficial and help them be healthier or even happier in the new year. But, for more than 75% of the population, they don’t even keep their resolutions. So here are some steps to help you achieve your goals whenever you see fit.
One of the most important tips is to “be realistic.” Often when talking to people and asking what their new year’s resolution is, they say something like “I want to be healthier” or “I want to be happier.” While these are very important and good resolutions they aren’t realistic. Yes, they are both very achievable, but by making a blanket statement like that is too broad to actually achieve it. You need to make your goals as specific as possible. Instead of saying “I want to be healthier” say “I want to exercise for 30 minutes every singe day.” This will set smaller goals for you to achieve every day and help you achieve your overall goal.
Another important tip is to document your progress. This is crucial to maintaining your work towards your goal. If you document your progress you will be able to look back at your goal and see your progress. This is very good at motivating you to keep going and to not give up. Another aspect of this tip is to tell someone about your goal. This will put pressure on you to make sure that you achieve your goal. If you are really driven, then tell someone who might doubt you. That way when you prove them wrong you can rub it in their face.
One of the last tips I have for you is to remember that almost all resolutions and goals are 90% mental. If you believe that you can achieve it, then you can do it. I want to end this article with a quote by Og Mandino that says “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”