Tips to stay the course with a New Year’s resolution
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.
The holiday season is steeped in tradition.
• 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 diffi cult 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 fi tness-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.
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Many of those traditions are
rooted in celebrants’ faith, but one
of the last customs people embrace each
year is largely secular.
The tradition of making New Year’s resolutions
is older than many people may realize.
According to History.com, the ancient
Babylonians are believed to be the fi rst people
to make New Year’s resolutions when
they began doing so roughly 4,000 years ago
during a 12-day festival known as Akitu.
That festival was religious in nature, but
many people now make resolutions with a
goal toward self-improvement unrelated to
their faith. 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.
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