Long Term New Year’s Resolutions that Really Work

A new year is starting and we’ve all promised ourselves to make positive changes in our lives by setting goals. But sticking with New Year’s resolutions past the first few weeks can be tough. Sustainable strategies will make your resolutions happen forever.

These are action steps to attain long term success with your New Year’s resolutions.

Why do we usually fail at making them in the first place?

Knowing common reasons for failure can help you to get around obstacles. Most resolutions fail because they are:

• Too Ambitious: When we set unrealistic goals, they result with frustration and burnout.
• Vague: If you don’t have clarity you can’t measure progress.
• Unsupported: Resolutions lose momentum without a plan and without accountability.

Tips for Long-Term Success

1. Set SMART Goals

SMART means your goals are achievable.

What It Means:

• Specific: Carve exactly what you want.
• Measurable: None will include the key metrics we want to track progress on.
• Achievable: Make sure you set yourself a realistic goal (taking into account your resources and time).
• Relevant: To create some kind of balance make your goal correspond to what is important to you.
• Time-bound: Give yourself a deadline because thinking about it too much can get boring.

Example: Stand up and say, “Instead of telling myself I’ll get in shape, I’ll enunciate a SMART goal such as, ‘I’ll jog for 30 minutes three times a week.”

2. Break Goals into Small Steps

Breaking them into smaller steps makes them manageable, and it makes big goals easier.

Action Steps:

• Finally break your resolution into monthly or weekly milestones.
• Get momentum by focusing on one step at a time.
• There are tools for the task like Todoist to organize those tasks and keep track.

3. Track Your Progress

Progress is regularly tracked, so you stay accountable and motivated.

How to Track:

• Apps like Fix My Life AI will help to visualize achievements and give reminders.
• Record progress daily or weekly to keep a journal.
• In order to stay enthusiastic, celebrate small wins.

4. Make Resolutions Personal

Resolutions should be reflective of what you value and want, not of what society or anybody else desires or believes of you.

Tips:

• Consider why it matters for you.
• Make your goals line up with your long term outlook in life.
• Look to develop those areas which make you feel good.

Example: If you don’t like a gym routine then choose a fitness routine you enjoy, such as dance classes.

5. Create a Support System

Making your goals known to others, for their benefit and support.

How to Build Support:

• Make your resolutions family, friends related.
• Groups and communities around the same goal, fitness challenges, book clubs, etc.
• To help guide and hold you accountable, that’s where working with a coach or mentor might be helpful.

Online Communities: Groups for all sorts of goals from weight loss to career advancement exist in platforms like Reddit.

6. Anticipate Challenges

Expect that you will hit stumbling blocks and set backs so they don’t knock you off your path.

Strategies:

• Find out what potential barriers could be in your own reading like lack of time or lack of motivation.
• Have a backup plan on those days you can’t get to the gym like having home workouts ready.
  Self compassionate and adjust if you need to.

7. Stay Flexible

Like many of us, you are likely to adapt your resolutions along with the changes in your life circumstances.

Tips for Flexibility:

• Revisit your goals from time to time, they shouldn’t be stagnant.
• If, however, you hit an unexpected snag or roadblock, change your plan.
• Perfection, focus on progress instead.

8. Visualize Success

It helps you to constantly keep yourself committed and motivated.

How to Visualize:

• Make a vision board with pictures and affirmation to your goals. Canva is a tool to help you design a digital board.
• Take the time to think about how you will complete your resolution about five minutes a day.
• Apply positive affirmations to build your belief that you can succeed.

9. Reward Yourself

If you hit a milestone – celebrate it, because this will help you to stay motivated and appreciate how far you’ve come.

Reward Ideas:

• Indulge in something you love – a sweet treat, for instance, or a movie night.
• But put your money somewhere that furthers your goal — for instance, buy some new workout gear or an interesting book.
• To add to the encouragement, share with your support network what you can you achieved.

10. Use Technology to keep on Track

Simplifying goal setting and tracking is done by apps and digital tools.

Recommended Tools:

• Fix My Life AI: Templates, progress tracking, and personalized insights included to assist you to stay off life.
• Habitica: Make your resolutions more fun by earning rewards for doing them.
• MyFitnessPal: Goals for track health and fitness such as calorie intake and exercise.

Examples of Long Term Resolutions

• Health and Fitness: “You can drop 10 pounds eating balanced diet and exercising 4 times a week.”
• Career Growth: “At the latest, I’ll be done by June with an online certification course to help me move ahead in my field.”
• Financial Stability: “But with $100 a week saved and unnecessary expenses reduced I’ll be $5,000 dollars better off this year.”
• Personal Development: “By committing myself to a half an hour a day of reading, I know I’ll read 12 books this year.”

How Fix My Life AI Can Help

Fix My Life AI simplifies the process of setting and achieving resolutions:

• Goal Templates: Give yourself resolutions that make sense to you based on what matters to you.
• Progress Dashboards: Track achievements in real-time, visualise milestones.
• Motivational Tools: Get daily affirmations and stay on track.
• Personalized Insights: AI Power recommendations help you make your strategies more valid and overcome challenges.

Conclusion

Behind any New Year’s resolution that is successful long term is careful thought, continued practice, and the flexibility to change. However, setting SMART goals, dividing them into small steps and leveraging support systems and technology will enable your resolutions to become habits you’ll stick to.

With the tools like Fix My Life AI, create a daily routine and let’s start your journey today! The good news is that if you persist, and use the right strategies, your resolutions will become a reality, and you’ll make the positive changes you want to make.

ADDITIONAL READING

New Year’s Resolution Challenges for Accountability

Steps to Setting Personal Goals Effectively

New Year’s resolution success rate and tips