Resolutions

How to Get Your New Year’s Resolutions Back on Track

Believe it or not, we’re about six weeks into the New Year. With that in mind, how are your New Year’s Resolutions going? If you’re like many other resolution makers, then they’re probably not doing very well at all. In fact, studies show that only 8% of those who set resolutions actually succeed at reaching them. Assuming you’re not among the 8%, let’s take a look at how you can get back on track and make this year a good one for you – especially if your resolutions were financial in nature.

Reflect on why You’ve Not Had Success

I wrote a few months ago on New Year’s Resolutions and the need to be specific in what you’re striving for. Whether we realize it or not, without being specific then we are not setting ourselves up for success. What that can cause is the probability that you were measuring the wrong things or nothing at all in regards to your goals.

Beyond that, it’s possible that you were really wanting or needing to work on something else and not what you were striving for. For example, let’s say that one of your resolutions was to save for retirement and build an emergency fund. You’ve been doing great on the former and not the latter. Take a look at the difference between the two and you’re likely to find the reasons behind your lack of success.

Get Focused

It has been said many times, by many people, but one large reason why New Year’s Resolutions fail is because we’re not focused in how we go about achieving them. Paying off debt, saving for retirement and increasing your net worth are all great things to do, but you’ll get nowhere without focus.

I’ve found that a great way to regain that focus on a goal or resolution you’re trying to reach is to find one or two you truly want and run at them with all you have. While it may sound good that you have many resolutions you’re working on, a small handful will generally help you be more successful. Having just a couple to focus on will allow you the time to set quantifiable goals to reach, especially if you set yourself smaller goals that will snowball over time and lead to greater success.

Find Someone to Keep You Accountable to Your Resolutions

If lack of focus is a big detractor to reaching success with your New Year’s Resolutions, then lack of accountability is equally so. Speaking personally, I know the goals I bring others in on have a much greater success of being reached. Why you ask? Well, it’s plain and simple…I don’t want to be seen as a failure and fear being held to account for not doing something I said I would. Achieving success is a great motivator, but fear of embarrassment is a strong one as well.

My tip is to find someone that will not only encourage you, but also challenge you to achieve your resolutions. Tell them what it is you’re wanting to achieve and the steps you’re taking to reach them and let that person help you along the way. You can take this a step further and keep each other accountable on your goals so each of you can see success.

 

How are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions? Are you still on track and working on them?

 

Image by Richard_of_England/ Flickr

2 thoughts on “How to Get Your New Year’s Resolutions Back on Track”

  1. This year, I’ve set mini-quarterly goals to help me focus. So far, my goals are going pretty well – I’ve been meeting them weekly. I’ve had a hiccup or two with one of them (my ebook), but it should still be completed by the first quarter (March 31st.) Starting off small and making the time frame shorter might be a good solution for those that never meet their resolutions.

  2. I think the quarterly goals are a great way to go, especially when you can break them down to smaller chunks. That can allow it to not feel so overwhelming to reach. Best of luck with the ebook!

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