By: Paige Sutter, LPC
It’s 2023. You’ve put away your Christmas decorations, spent way too much on a new planner and stickers, and posted all over social media about how this is going to be the year you lose weight, eat healthy, and journal every single night. For the first week you workout almost every day and pride yourself every time you take out a lunch that you meal prepped over the weekend. Life is good.
Flash forward to week two, and you did not have time to meal prep over the weekend like you planned. You end up getting fast food a couple of times, and you think “I’ll just workout extra this week to make up for it.” When that doesn’t happen you feel even worse, and then you remember that you have no idea where your journal is and haven’t opened it in days. You throw your hands up and decide you will try again in 2024.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone! A 2016 study found 41% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions but only 9% feel they were successful in keeping their resolutions. After the first week success rates drop down to 75%, and by the six-month mark they drop to 46%. 1 While this can seem discouraging, it does not have to be your story. Read on to learn how you can create New Year’s resolutions that you will be able to post about at the end of the year.
So, how do I actually do it?
Setting up a plan to actually follow through with New Year’s resolutions can be daunting. Before you can do this, you have to start with the goal itself. In 1981 George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunningham developed a concept called S.M.A.R.T. Goals to help us create more meaningful goals that we are more likely to follow through on: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. 2 By following these guidelines you can create a goal and a plan to reach it all in one step!
Let’s break it down in a practical way. Say I want to work out more (and let’s be honest, I set this resolution every year.) Below I will use the S.M.A.R.T. Goal acronym to create a goal and plan:
- Specific – What exactly do I want to accomplish by working out more? Do I want to lose weight? Do I want to build muscle? Do I want to improve my overall well-being? Do I want to improve the quantity or quality of my workouts?
- Due to my busy schedule I want to increase the quantity of short workouts each week to improve my overall health.
- Measurable – How will I know I am reaching my goal? What unit of measurement will I use? Will I track the number of workouts per week, the number of minutes I spend working out, or the numbers on the scale?
- I will know I am meeting my goal if I am completing at least three twenty-minute workouts per week.
- Attainable – Do I have everything I need to complete my goal? Do I need to learn more or buy any equipment to help me with my workouts? Will I work out at home, or do I need a gym membership?
- I will go for walks at home or do a workout video on Youtube if the weather is bad. I can get started today.
- Realistic – Will I be able to stick with this plan over time? Is this goal actually something I can see myself accomplishing?
- My daughter loves to go on walks with me in her stroller, so this will be beneficial and doable for both of us. If there is ever a day when we are not able to walk I can do a Youtube workout as backup.
- Timely – What is the timeframe for meeting my goal? How will I know if I have accomplished my goal?
- Because I am tracking the quantity of my workouts rather than a specific end goal, my goal will continue throughout the year. If at the end of the year I have met my goal most weeks and feel better physically and mentally overall, I will consider myself successful.
Now it’s time to grab that journal and get started! I hope this overview has been helpful and you feel more confident in yourself and your ability to set goals this year. I wish you luck and I would love to hear your New Year’s resolutions in the comments section.
Sources:
Finding Grace Counseling and Wellness, LLC 