It’s that time of year again, the planner is out and the New Years Resolutions are coming up left, right and centre. As 2021 comes to an end, it’s natural that we want to set out goals for the new year. However, some statistics show that most of us only keep a quarter of our New Years Resolutions.

With the disappointing statistics, you may question, “How we can create sustainable New Years Resolutions?”

New Years Resolutions Can Be Useful

Let’s start with the positive. A new year offers the chance to start fresh, especially after Christmas when we’ve maybe overindulged and threw our routines out the window. Many people find the new calendar year a motivating factor to focus on their goals and kickstart the lifestyle they want. It is important to be specific with your goals and realise that new habits take time and consistent effort.

However, New Years Resolutions can be demotivating.

Oftentimes, people’s New Years Resolutions seem like self punishment for enjoying themselves at Christmas. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get back into a routine and improving your fitness. However, punishing yourself by creating a restrictive diet and exercise regime to follow is unrealistic and can have poor effects on your mental health. This could lead to feeling overwhelmed with the amount of sudden changes in your routine and calling it quits mid- January.

Create The Perfect Balance For Your New Years Resolutions

There’s bound to be a sweet spot in the middle. Each individual is starting at a different baseline, so try not to compare your goals to someone else. Creating goals that already fit into your routine, and making buildable habits throughout the year is oftentimes the easiest way to improve over time.

I don’t normally do New Years Resolutions. Usually, I set my goals at random times throughout the year. However, this year I’ve decided to give it a go. I wanted to set ambitious, yet realistic goals for 2022 without pressuring myself. For me, some of these include:

  • joining a new exercise class
  • getting back to my pre christmas/ covid weekly run, and increasing to twice a week
  • releasing two blog posts per month which is hilarious considering my track record
  • save x amount of money per month (won’t disclose this because I’m a multimillionaire)
  • travel to 5 new locations

Ambitious, Yet Achievable New Years Resolutions

I once heard a quote that if we improve by just 0.1%, every day, you can grow by 36.5% by the end of the year. We need to make small, consistent efforts. Oftentimes, we can get overwhelmed by implementing too many New Years Resolutions at once. We are only human and cannot do everything. Therefore, by making our New Years goals ambitious, yet attainable, we have much better chance of sticking with them. For more information on positive habit building, I’d recommend reading ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. This article also provides a summary of easy habit building exercises.

Summary

In summary, there’s nothing to say you can’t set resolutions at any time of year, but New Years Resolutions are a great idea if they set you up for a fresh start. Try not to beat yourself up too much if you fall off the bandwagon, we all get lulls and life gets in the way. You might want to stay away from social media if you feel like you’re comparing your progress to everyone else’s. Here’s a little reminder to take everything you see online with a pinch of salt in 2022. They’re not always thriving x

Hopefully by creating new habits, and setting realistic goals, your New Years Resolutions will stick with you for the whole year! Let me know what your new years resolutions are over on Instagram.

Chat soon,

Eilís x