Why You Need to Plan to Stick to Your New Year Resolutions

That 100lbs can be broken down into monthly goals of 8-9lb per month. Now that seems a little more doable. Want it broken down by the week? It’s just short of 2lb per week. That’s even a healthy weight loss and easier to keep off in the long run. You can already see that it really is achievable.

Setting out smaller goals will give you more focus, and make the resolution seem less daunting. You’re more likely to stick to it in the long run.

Sticking with the weight loss analogy, if you had the 100lbs by the end of the year, that’s one thing to celebrate, but it’s a long journey to get there. Think about it; there are 52 weeks in the year. You’re going to have some ups and downs, and you can lose motivation. Without a plan and those smaller goals, will you really stick to your resolution?

When you plan ahead, you can set some milestones along the way. These milestones give you something to celebrate as you go, so you will feel proud of yourself and see that you really are chipping away at that resolution. Once you reach one milestone, your focus moves to the next one. You will want to reach it, just so you can feel the sense of pride and accomplishment again.

The milestones don’t have to be directly linked to your resolution either. When it comes to weight loss, consider clothes sizes as your goals to celebrate, or reaching a healthy BMI.

Tracking gives you the benefit of looking back. There are times you’ll hit a bad patch, and you will start to lose motivation. If you don’t track, you could give up. By tracking, you can look back at your journey and see the things that have worked, those that haven’t, and remind yourself of how far you have come. This is a really good motivator, whatever your New Year resolutions are.

Finally, planning will help make sure you have everything you could possibly need. If you’re losing weight, it will help you have all the right food in. If you’re saving money, it will help you make sure you have the right savings accounts and processes to do the job. No resolution can be met if you don’t have the right tools, products or services.

Each month, your needs may change. It is worth keeping your plans relatively open, especially if you want to plan for the whole year. You may find a specific type of exercise isn’t as fun as you thought, or you may find that your financial situation changes. Just the smallest change can affect your plan, as it affects the things you need to keep going. However, at least by having a plan, you can easily make the changes and get back on track.

In short,it takes out all the guessing for how you will succeed at meeting your New Year resolution.

So, plan for your New Year resolutions. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. A mind map on the wall, a diary that you carry around with your, or a full blog documenting your journey could work. The trick is to find something that works specifically for you. If you don’t like seeing the words written down, trying drawing pictures or finding another method that helps you plan. Remember to plan though. Once you do, you will have more chance of succeeding to meet your goals.