As the silly season comes to a close, you’ve likely made some headway on your New Year’s resolutions for 2020. But if you don’t worry – there’s still hope!
Sure, research suggests that only 8 percent of people are successful in achieving their resolutions and unsurprisingly, there’s no ‘silver bullet’ to help (that I am aware of). There are, however, some relatively straight forward strategies and techniques that you can use to hold yourself accountable for 2020 and give yourself the best chance of achieving your resolutions!
Write it down, again and again
This is my absolute favourite! When I started studying at university, I bought myself a whiteboard to hang in my bedroom. It became the first thing I would see in the morning and the last thing I would see when going to bed. Some might say that my approach was a little over the top (you might too, if you saw the size of the whiteboard), although I like to think that if you’re going to try something out it’s best to go all in.
I’d be happy to say that this is the best strategy if you want to achieve your goals, however, don’t take my word for it. The Dominican University in California found that you are 42% more likely to achieve your written goals. So why not give it a try!
New Year Habits
Make New Year’s habits, not resolutions. Ultimately the aim of the game here, is to change your regular behaviour’s in a 3 step process:
1. You MUST pick a small action.
2. You MUST attach the new action
to a previous habit.
3. You MUST make the new action
EASY to do for at least the first week.
Great examples are: I will try one new healthy recipe once a week; I will remove the second teaspoon of sugar from my lattes; I will get off my train/tram/bus 2 stops early and walk the last part into the office. These are small and simple changes that will require a conscious effort but won’t feel like a chore. If you’re really serious about breaking some old habits and creating some new ones, our fellow Clicksters had great success after reading Charles Duhigg’s best seller, the Power of Habit.
Break Down Your Goals
Most of us have heard of S.M.A.R.T goals, a great way to knuckle down and really understand what achieving your goals looks like. However, going a step further and making your goals and resolutions incremental is a great way to ensure you don’t ‘bite off more than you can chew’. These smaller milestones will help develop regular action and reduce the anxiety of looking at a seemingly mammoth task, while providing an excellent opportunity for you to celebrate your progress along the way.
I like to use an Olympic athletes as an analogy for this strategy. As the ultimate goal is to take home the gold, every 4 years, these athletes break this mammoth task down into smaller, more manageable milestones to continually improve and assess their progress, celebrating their success along the way.
Evaluate your current habits
One of the reasons our resolutions are often not accomplished is because we are too busy with other things. A good way to ensure that you can dedicate some time to your goals (and actually get them done) is by making sure that they line up to your everyday life. It’s likely that you’re going to have to give up something you already do to make time to work on your new goals, so making sure that they work in with your lifestyle is definitely important. Even if it is as simple as getting your daily steps to 10,000 you’ll have to find a way to fit this into your regular day – taking the stairs, getting off the bus or train one stop sooner or even going for a morning or evening walk.
Make it fun
Sure, it’s important that your goals are specific and time-sensitive, but it is also important to make sure that you enjoy working towards them. The more fun you can have while working towards your goals, the more likely you are to stick with it. Why not reward yourself with a prize for each milestone you complete? The bigger the achievement, the bigger the reward! Talk about your goals with your friends, they might have something similar on their list, working towards it together will definitely be fun and you’ll also have someone to help keep you accountable. A little friendly completion through a bet might also help to spur you on!
There you have it, 5 simple strategies to help you make the most of your goals in 2020. If you haven’t set your goals, habits or resolutions yet, why not give these strategies a try? Who knows, they might just help you knock your goals out of the park this year!
Do you have any favourite strategies that you already use to achieve your goals and resolutions? Make sure you drop us a line or call me on 03 9963 4804.
Oliver Szklarz
