Why You May Not be Able to Stick With Your New Years Resolutions + How to Stay on Track

The end of the holiday season and heading into the new year is always my favorite and least favorite time of the year. Least favorite because it’s so hard to let the holiday season go and taking down Christmas, but also one of my favorites because I love a fresh start and getting motivated and goal setting for the year ahead. Being a goal-oriented girl, this time of year is always extremely motivating for me to help me stay on track and better myself every single year. However, just a couple years ago I really struggled sticking with my New Years resolutions past the end of January. But as I’ve gotten older, sticking with my resolutions has become super important to me and today I’ll be sharing some tips on how to stay on track if you tend to drop your resolutions past the first couple days/weeks of January.

Reason #1 Why You May Not Stick with Your Resolutions:

You’re setting unrealistic goals for yourself

A lot of people tend to drop their New Years resolutions after a couple days/weeks because the goals they had set for themselves are unrealistic. For instance, one of my primary goals for my blogging business in 2020 was to reach 10k followers on Instagram by the end of the year (I started the year with 5k). While it’s so easy to hope and wish for more, I knew realistically, based on my time and effort that I could put into it with working full-time, 10k was a very realistic goal to achieve by years end, which I achieved in October of 2020.

Tip #1 to Stay on Track:

That being said, set goals you know you can easily achieve. Rather than setting the goal to reach 10k by the end of January last year (something I knew for sure would not happen, I thought realistically on what I could do to make that happen by the end of the year).

Reason #2 Why You May Not Stick with Your Resolutions:

Your goals are vague and don’t have actionable steps on how you will achieve them

This time of year especially, it is so common for people to set health & fitness related goals and resolutions. Whether it be to get in the best shape of your life, lose X amount of pounds or holiday weight, run every single day of the week, etc. these goals are so common this time of year, and are often neglected after a short amount of time. And the main thing they all have in common are that they are all vague and don’t mention any steps on how you will achieve them, which then leads to these goals being forgotten.

Tip #2 to Stay on Track:

For each goal/resolution you set this year, make a list of actionable items you will do in order to achieve X goal. For instance, if your goal is to go on a 3-mile run 5 days a week, make a list of the actionable steps you will need to take in order to stick to your goal. This could mean carving out the time in your day to run (either waking up early or going out on your lunch break, etc.), buying a nice new pair of running shoes and apparel, etc.

Reason #3 Why You May Not Stick with Your Resolutions:

You’re not writing them down

In all honesty, I would have forgotten just about every single resolution I had set for myself for 2021 if I had not written them down. My planner has a whole section at the beginning tailored to goal setting for the year in each aspect of your life; financial, spiritual, relationship, health, career, personal, etc. And I filled out every single section. I make sure to check-in with that section of my planner once every couple days to help keep me on track because having them written down especially helps me in wanting to achieve my goals and check them off as I go.

Tip #3 to Stay on Track:

Buy a planner or notebook that you know you will check regularly and write down your goals and resolutions for the year, with actionable steps on how you will achieve them and check in with it regularly. Leave sticky notes in common areas of your home that you see every day so the message is constantly reminding you.

Reason #4 Why You May Not Stick with Your Resolutions:

You don’t tell anyone else your goals and therefore don’t have anyone else to help keep you accountable

It can be very easy to neglect your goals and resolutions for the year when you keep them to yourself. There may be days where you’re not feeling it which may then lead to overall forgetting your goals.

Tip #4 to Stay on Track:

Tell your friend, significant other, family members, or whoever else that you talk to regularly to have them help keep you accountable and on the right track. After setting my goals for 2021, I had Josh look over everything I wrote down so he can help keep me on track, and it even motivated him to set some goals for the new year for himself as well.

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Thanks for reading!

XX

Kelsie