Sticking to Your New Year's Resolutions

In January, we often reflect on the previous year and consider what changes we want to make for the current year. The beginning of the year is a great opportunity to consider our intentions and shape what we want our life to look like over the next 12 months.

For some people, resolutions can be difficult to follow through with. Maybe you're someone who's had the same resolution each year. Each year that you set that resolution again, hopefully, you've gained some understanding of what went well and didn't go so well during the previous year.

How do we stick to our resolutions? In essence, how do we set a goal and meet that goal?

New year's resolutions often fall into a trap of not being a "SMART" goal: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Instead, new year's resolutions are often broad:

• "I'm going to exercise more this year"

• "In 2026, I'm going to learn photography"

• "I'm going to be more honest with myself this year"

• "I want to make more friends"

These are great starting points! However, they might feel broad and overwhelming when we think about the entire year.

Let's scale down our new year's resolutions on a monthly basis. Maybe "I'm going to exercise more this year" turns into "I'm going to exercise at least once a month." Now, we have a starting point for January! We can take a look at our January calendars and explore some options for specific days that might work well. We can consider different options like going to the gym, going on a walk, doing an at-home exercise video, and more.

If this still feels overwhelming or you find yourself recognizing feeling avoidant, we can integrate an additional reward that feels exciting. Just like how children get stickers for going to the doctor's office, we can reward ourselves for exercising! Maybe you have one large reward for checking of 10/12 months of the year, or maybe you give yourself a smaller reward each time you exercise.

For this example, we can consider a small reward for each time someone exercises. "Each time I exercise, I get to go thrifting." This provides additional motivation and teaches your body to be excited about exercise, rather than fearful and avoidant. Now, each time this person considers exercising, their brain is also considering going thrifting.

Consider also setting check-ins with yourself to reevaluate your new year's resolution. Maybe in March, this person realizes that they haven't exercised at all! They realize that they still want to, but forget to, so they set a reminder inviting themselves to consider exercising every other week. They also decide that thrift shopping isn't that exciting anymore, so they change their reward to trying new coffee shops in the area.

There are no rules to new year's resolutions. You make your own! Consider reflecting on what helps you meet your goals, what helps you feel excited about change, and what helps you feel rewarded and fulfilled.