A primary reason why resolutions are not kept is that most people don’t make resolutions for the right reasons. According to The New York Times resolutions fail because:
Similar to a business goal, your personal resolutions should be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Specific: Instead of saying that you want to lose weight. Set as a goal to lose 3 pounds a month for six months.
Measurable: Measurable is easy when it comes to weight loss or more exercise. You can track the number of steps you take in a day, miles that you run, or time spent on an elliptical. In other areas where you want to improve, track progress in a daily or weekly journal or use a phone app that helps track progress.
Achievable: It’s not unrealistic or unreasonable to have stretch goals, however, they need to be realistic. If you want to save more for retirement or a second home, you most likely are not going to be able to do that in a single year. However, you can set as an achievable goal to save an extra 5% of your take home or another $1000 every month.
Relevant: Some goals are obvious. If you need to lose 20 pounds, that goal is relevant because achieving it will improve your health and well-being and enhance self-confidence.
Time-bound: The milestone schedule you develop for achieving the goal needs to be realistic. Focus on smaller goals first. By the end of January, I plan to run 8 miles a week. By the end of March, I plan to run 10 miles and week and by the end of May, I plan to run 12 miles a week. “Focus on these small wins so you can make gradual progress,” writes Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habits. He adds, “If you are building a habit, you’re planning for the next decade, not the next couple of months.”
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