As people ponder their resolutions for the year ahead, the following strategies might help them stay the course over the next 12 months.
Give serious thought to a prospective resolution
Statistics regarding New Year’s resolutions vary, but a 2024 survey from the Pew Research Center found that 13 percent of adults polled indicated they kept none of their resolutions. Numerous variables can affect whether or not a person keeps a resolution, but giving a potential resolution little thought ahead of time can make achieving a goal unlikely. Give any potential change ample thought before committing to a resolution. If you aspire to lose weight, identify the ways you’re going to go about that. Find a local gym to join, identify ways to eat a more nutritious diet and, perhaps most importantly, study how you can make time to stay the course. A little legwork in advance of declaring a resolution can pay off in the long run.
Set periodic goals
Small goals along the way to the larger goal can serve as motivation to keep going. If you aspire to watch less television and read more, resolve to read 100 pages per week and then gradually increase that total if you so desire. Small goals can provide a great means to measure incremental progress that will ultimately make achieving a larger goal more likely.
Be realistic
Realistic goals are more likely to be achieved than ones that seem good on the surface but are too difficult to keep. For example, if you aspire to exercise for an hour each day but obligations to work and family leave little time for physical activity, then you may need to reduce those expectations in favor of a more realistic, achievable goal. Taking on too much will only discourage you when hurdles inevitably appear, and that is likely to compel you to abandon the resolution entirely. If your initial goal is realistic, then any challenges that arise are less likely to derail your efforts.
Don’t go it alone
Many people employ the buddy system as a means to stay motivated with fitness-related resolutions, and that approach can be applied to any goal you set at the beginning of the year. Having someone there to hold you accountable, and doing the same for a partner, increases the chances you’ll stay the course.
New Year’s resolutions are an ancient tradition, even if the majority tend to be abandoned rather quickly. But anyone can buck that trend and stay the course by employing a few simple, yet effective strategies.
DID YOU KNOW?
Regular physical activity is often associated with immediate effects, and rightfully so. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, physical activity can improve cognition and thinking, reduce short-term feelings of anxiety, and make it easier for people to manage their weight. But physical activity also boasts some notable long-term benefits, particularly in regard to disease prevention. The CDC notes that regular exercise can reduce risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, infectious diseases like COVID-19 and pneumonia, and various forms of cancer, including cancers of the breast, colon, kidneys and lungs.