How to Make New Year’s Resolutions That Actually Last
By Coach Keller
Oh the holidays! They take a toll on even the hardiest of us. In addition to the feasting, desserts, and alcohol, there’s also the stress of traveling, shopping, relatives, and navigating the chaos of grocery store parking lots. Over the past weeks many of us have been completely derailed from our routines. Now exhausted, we are expected to come up with resolutions for health and wellness that we will stick to for the next 12 months? That’s a big ask.
It turns out, less than half of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions and only about 8% of those actually achieve them. Even if you are in the resolution-free camp or you were steadfast in transcending the December madness, it’s likely you still have a few goals on your list for 2023. Most people generally want to eat better, sleep more, and workout regularly. Regardless of where you fall on the resolution-making spectrum, learning how to set achievable goals is useful any time of the year.
Here are 4 steps you can take today to make resolutions that will actually last:
1) Start with how you want to feel, not a list of general improvements.
Although there is certainly value in setting specific goals (eg. how fast you want to run your next race, hitting a new deadlift PR, etc.), many goals are better achieved by understanding more about how you want to feel rather than reaching an exact outcome. By doing this, you will not only make more realistic and approachable goals, but you will also feel accomplished much sooner in your journey. Maybe you haven’t lost 10 pounds yet, but you are starting to see more muscle definition and better endurance, and that is a huge step in the right direction!
For example:
Goal → better → Feeling
“Lose weight”
better:
“Like what I see in the mirror and feel stronger”
“Eat healthier”
better:
“Enjoy colorful, nutritious, and balanced meals”
“Sleep 8 hours a night”
better:
“Wake up refreshed and energized”
“Advance my career”
better:
“Feel stimulated and appreciated at work”
2) Translate those feelings into specific, daily actions.
Once you know how you want to feel, then you can begin to write meaningful goals. For example, if I want to get better sleep and wake up refreshed, I would start researching what impacts a good night’s sleep. It is not just about getting 8 hours every night. It is about limiting screen time before bed (screens disrupt melatonin production), having a dark and cooler room (60-65 degrees is optimal), not eating right before bed (metabolizing food creates energy, keeping us alert), and much more.
Now you have specific actions you can take to improve your sleep rather than focus solely on hitting an exact number of hours. Same with food choices, prioritizing workouts, or advancing your career. Turn them into simple daily actions, not lofty, unrealistic goals. Don’t give yourself so many things to change that you feel you need to change everything.
Remember: a little bit of something every day adds up to major changes by the end of the year. (10 pushups a day is 3,650 pushups in a year! 30 minutes of less screen time a day is an extra 183 hours of free time a year!) The primary reason people don’t achieve their goals is because they are setting too big of ones, they get overwhelmed, and they abandon them altogether. Keep them bite-sized.
3) Establish accountability.
Ask for support with your goals! Support comes in many forms. It can be a workout buddy who helps you get into class. It could be a nutrition coach or personal trainer. It could be a therapist, a mentor, a spiritual leader, or a financial advisor. It could just be a friend or partner who asks you how it is going. But the only way accountability is effective is if you share your goals with someone whose opinion matters to you. Even better– be that person for someone else too!
4) Do check-ins and allow start-overs.
So you had pizza and a beer in the first week of setting your nutrition goals. It’s not the end of the world, and it’s also not the end of you trying to eat healthier. What is important though, is to examine the why behind your decision. Was it because everyone else was ordering it? Was it because you felt like you earned it? What would it have felt like to choose something else?
Checking in on our goals is an important part in achieving them. Spend some time, even just 5 minutes at the end of the day, reflecting on where you succeeded today as well as where you could have improved. Life happens. Not everything goes as planned. The beautiful part is that you get an entirely new day tomorrow to try again.
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Here at Evergreen we are committed to being a part of your support system, to helping you become a stronger and happier version of yourself every day. Thank you for prioritizing your health with us. We look forward to celebrating your successes, both big and small, in 2023. Happy New Year!
