Top 10 Strategies for Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions
The year is upon us and the scramble to make up a few New Year’s resolutions is in full swing. Frankly, most of these will be forgotten about come February. Here’s how to create a resolution that actually sticks.
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Focus on One Resolution
“Energy flows where focus goes!”
“The fox that chases many rabbits catches none!”
“Beat yourself up about one thing at a time” – that’s one of my favorites.
There are many wise words reminding us that as humans we perform way better when we give our attention to one thing at a time.
This is the first mistake people make – planning too many resolutions. The fewer things your brain has to deal with the better it performs. By choosing one or two areas you want to see change in you’ll be able to focus all your energy and motivation on those areas, increasing the chances you’ll succeed.
If you want to get out of debt, max out your pension contribution, ISA, 401k, make additional investments, and double your Net Worth, you might be overwhelmed by all the different tasks and choices that you’ll have to make on a regular basis to make these all happen. Instead, pick one or two key goals to focus on and you’ll be much more likely to follow through.
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Get Someone to Hold You Accountable
Having an “accountability buddy” is an old, yet tried-and-true tip for sticking to your resolutions. Tell your goals to someone you really respect and who you know will be honest with you and keep you on the right track.
Don’t go too overboard, though. Sometimes sharing your goals with too many people actually dilutes your resolve and can serious hamper your success.
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Set Specific Goals
Many people set New Year’s resolutions and goals in general that are way too pie in the sky! Too big and general, making them hard to attain.
Imagine going to a restaurant and just telling the waiter “I want something to eat”. Well that is pretty much what most people do with their goals.
The more specific you can be, the easier it is to achieve them.
“Make More Money”
“Get Rich”
“Reduce Debt”
These are all bad resolutions.
Not because they aren’t great things to aim for but they are bad because they are too airy fairy.
“Increase income by 25%”
“Increase Net Worth by 52% by 31 December”
“Be free of debt x,w,and z by 14 Sept”
These are way better goals to set yourself.
Chunking goals down into very specific bite size bits throughout the year is good, too. That way, you always have something attainable to focus on that doesn’t seem far off.
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Tack Your Resolution onto an Existing Habit
If your resolution involves creating new habits—like, say, reviewing your spending each month and creating an income statement then piggyback that activity onto something you already do.
If it’s a weekly habit like reconciling your cash spend, identify something else you already do weekly like taking out the trash and link the new habit to that.
Some new habits may be daily habits, like focusing on your financial freedom vision each day.
Set this up to do it when you do another daily activity like taking a shower or putting your makeup on. Stick a post-it note on your mirror with a key word to remind you.
The easier you can form the habit, the more likely it is to stick.
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Give Yourself a Trial Run
Not every resolution is perfect out of the gate, so don’t hold yourself to perfection from day 1. Give yourself a 30 day trial run to define your goal, develop the skills you need and create the habit.
This way you let it be messy and imperfect, expecting a few stumbles but knowing it’s all just okay.
Give yourself time to sink into the habit before you start admitting defeat.
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Make Movies that Trick Your Mind
Resolutions are hard to keep without a sense of accomplishment. Having specific, gradual goals can help, but another trick is to play some mind games with yourself.
We are all constantly making up movies in our minds. Often they are horror movies, seeing all the things that can go wrong or how badly we are doing.
If we are going to make up movies we may as well make up movies that work for us!
Focus on anything that makes you feel like you’re succeeding. Play the movie in your head where you see yourself having already achieved this goal. Let yourself feel how it feels to be there.
Notice all the small things that are showing you you are succeeding and really make a big deal of these things. Do whatever you need to do to trick your mind and you’ll be well on your way to success.
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Visualize the End Result
“Focus on the carrot, not the stick”. If you’re having trouble staying motivated, focus on what you’ll get from achieving your goal. Ask yourself this question:
What will achieving this enable me to do, have, feel, experience, achieve, create?
Staying positive seems easy but it can be hard when the initial excitement gives way to the everyday discipline and when you hit a big plateau.
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Closely Measure Your Progress
We manage what we measure. Set up goal tracking tools so you can not only celebrate your success but also quickly notice when you may not be achieving your goal as quickly as you could be. Tracking helps you make adjustments quickly and points you to the specific area you need to focus on. In your wealth these two key wealth tracking tools you need are your personal income statement and your balance sheet.
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Remind Yourself of Your Goals Every Day
If you’re having trouble keeping your goals at the forefront of your mind, you can use one of any number of tricks to constantly remind yourself (besides tracking your progress).
Set an alarm on your phone with a message of why you’re doing this. Put up goal targets and posters around your home, use whiteboard markers to leave yourself reminders on mirrors around your home, print out labels to stick on your car’s steering wheel.
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Start Right Now
We tend to think our destiny is created by the big life decisions we make at key crossroads in our lives but our destiny is created by the decisions we make second by second, minute by minute of each day.
Don’t wait until some “perfect time” to start creating the life you really want.
Huge Love,
Ann
