How to Complete Your New Year’s Resolution

By Autumn McGowan
Web Content Assistant Manager

Welcome to 2022! It’s a brand-new year which for many people symbolizes new beginnings and a chance to start fresh. The new year of course brings the time-honored tradition of making new year resolutions. Some people are resolution masters, but for me, it has not always been so easy. In the past, my motivation and hope at the beginning of the year have been high and I have proudly declared my resolutions to everyone around me who would listen. I download apps to help me track whatever progress I’m trying to make and set forth into the new year with high hopes and expectations, ready to crush my dreams. 

Every year though, the same thing happens. The busyness of life inevitably gets in the way and my motivation falters. My resolutions fall by the wayside as I can’t imagine allocating time for something other than exactly what is on my plate. 

If you are anything like me, maybe you’ve experienced this too. Having never successfully completed my resolutions in the course of a year, I don’t have a lot of advice to give. What I do have is a game plan for this year, which is less of a game plan and more of a set of guidelines I’m going to test out to see how it goes.

To start out, I decided to focus on just one resolution this year, which is journaling. Journaling is one of those practices that everyone has always promised would produce positive changes if I tried it. So that is my first guideline, pick one resolution. Make it something you really want to do, and make sure that you’re doing it for yourself and not because you’re required to.

Next, I decided to set a tiny, easily achievable, daily goal for my journaling. The Harvard Business Review calls this a “micro-goal.” James Clear is also famous for talking about tiny daily goals to achieve a larger one in his book “Atomic Habits.”

My tiny goal is to write in my journal every day as little or as much as I want. I personally am not attaching a time limit to it because anytime something is timed, it starts to feel more like an assignment to me than something I want to be doing. You may find that a set amount of time at the same time every day is important for you to establish a routine, especially if your goal is something like working out. Just do what feels right for you. 

Lastly, make it fun. Chances you are committing to better yourself in some way with an already busy schedule. Whatever time you allocate for your resolution is a part of your valuable free time, and you want it to be an enjoyable experience rather than a stressful one. Spice up your resolution in some way if you can. Give yourself treats for completing your tiny goal each day or even on a monthly basis so that it’s something you actually look forward to. 

Good luck and Happy New Year!

Featured Image by Autumn McGowan