How to Stick to Resolutions Throughout the Year

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Tips for accomplishing resolutions at any time

It’s officially summer! As we celebrate the warmer weather with barbeques, pool parties and trips to the beach, it’s also a good time to reflect on how our year is going.  We’re now more than halfway through 2018, so if you made a New Year’s Resolution in January, you should have made some progress toward your goal.

According to a quick internet search, only about 8 percent of people who make New Year’s Resolutions actually stick to them. I know there are probably many reasons why people don’t stick to their resolutions or don’t even make them at all. I’m not here to delve into the psychology of sticking to our resolutions in this article, but I do have a personal feeling about why resolutions usually don’t work (well, for me, at least).

In writing this article and explaining resolutions, I should disclose that I actually haven’t made a New Year’s Resolution in a very long time. In fact, I honestly couldn’t even tell you what my last resolution was. But if you are at all familiar with this blog, I’m pretty good at setting goals.  Yet, the original intention of this blog is proof that I’m not always the best at maintaining goals.

Progress on 30 goals before 30

This blog got its start when I was about 27 and realized that the big 3-0 was just around the corner. I told myself that I had accomplished a lot for 27 years, but I wasn’t even close to accomplishing all the things I had wanted to by 30. So, I wrote down a list of 30 things I wanted to do before turning 30. And it wasn’t exactly an easy list of things I could just check off (okay, you have to just go check it out for yourself!)

Now, I didn’t actually publish the list until I was 28, nearing 29.  That left barely over a year to accomplish some pretty lofty tasks. Add on top of that, I am now getting married, moved in with my fiance and still work full time plus part time as a fitness instructor. Long story short, poor planning on my part to write down a list of 30 things that could probably all be full time jobs in and of themselves.

My point for this ramble is that for the first time in a really long time, I’m reflecting on these goals that I probably (read: will not) accomplish within the next six months.  And I’m okay with that. Let me repeat, I’M OKAY!

How to stick to goals throughout the year

Trust me, saying that aloud/on paper to my 15 weekly readers is a pretty big deal for me. I don’t like to admit defeat when it comes to personal goals. But it’s lead me to some decent life lessons. So whether you’ve set resolutions in January or a bucket list whenever, here are some tips for sticking to it.

Make it realistic

You need to take into account your lifestyle, your finances and your time limits. For me, working full time, teaching fitness classes at night, planning a wedding and trying to maintain a social life has taken a lot of balance. My 30 before 30 would have required me to have a minor social life, tons of money and pretty much 24 hours of free time a day. In a nutshell, it’s not realistic. The good news is, there’s plenty of time to tweak things to ease the pressure I put on myself to accomplish so much in such a short period without all the time and money in the world. I can still work toward these goals, just maybe not by 30. Oh, and probably not all at once.

Write it down

And stick it in a place that you can look at it everyday. You know that saying, “out of sight, out of mind.” It’s a cliche for a reason. If you’re not staring at something every day, it’s not going to be your priority. For me personally, I wrote my list and only went back to it a few times. If I was really going to accomplish 30 things in a short time frame, I truly should have had it in my face all the time.

Plan it out

Whether your goal is small or large, it should require some planning. For instance, one of my goals was to start a blog. Well, I got one check mark! And it required a ton of planning. I’m still not rocking at it because I really need to plan better. But I did take a lot of time to plan things out and create a roadmap for success. Hence why the blog gets a check mark!

Make time for it

Along with planning, you need to dedicate time to your goal or resolution. It could be as little as 10 minutes a day, but it will make all the difference if it’s dedicated to that specific agenda. My biggest hurdles with many of my goals is that I don’t plan or make time for them. So to the backburner they go!

Take baby steps

I think our inclination when we first set a goal or resolution is to dive all in. Losing weight? I’m only going to eat 1,000 calories a day and go to the gym two hours every morning. Okay, maybe that’s the most extreme, but I’ve definitely been there. Sometimes our goals seem so big that we try to take big steps right from the beginning. But if we break things down into smaller steps (again, planning and timing), we could make things easier for ourselves in the long run.

Final Thoughts

I know these may seem like minor, no-brainer solutions, but sometimes we need a little extra reminder to keep things simple when it comes to our resolutions. It’s okay to dream big and want great things for ourselves, but it’s nearly impossible to stick to something forever when we don’t set real expectations, write it down, make a plan, make time for it and take it in small doses.  

I’m not an expert, but experience has taught me that little steps add up to big results. No matter your resolution or goal, stay true to you and have faith that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.

Did you set a resolution or goal for 2018? How are you coming along? I’d love to know in the comments below!