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As 2020 nears, there could understandably be quite a few New Year’s resolutions taking shape in your head, but whether you will entirely follow through with those goals remains its own question.
CNBC reporter Alicia Adamczyk acknowledges the research finding that few people ultimately meet their New Year’s resolutions – hence why, if you’re thinking of setting some, you should think carefully about what they should be and how you ought to work towards them.
Keep your goals clear but flexible
Some obvious candidates for your resolutions list present themselves – like saving money, losing weight or getting a promotion. However, you shouldn’t put pressure on yourself to achieve too much too quickly, as that’s one big reason why frustration can too easily set in.
Therefore, remind yourself that, if you don’t end up fully achieving a particular goal this year, you should just roll it over to the following year, and be grateful for what progress you did make in 2020.
Sort goals into short-term, mid-range and long-term
This works because it can prevent you from toiling away at one particular task for ages before it bears any fruit that would produce the euphoria for which you are continuously longing.
Planting a garden and lunching with a relative could be short-term goals, trying a new diet or month-long class can constitute a mid-range task, and joining a longer class or club can be a long-term activity. In a list of 20 goals, limit the long-term activities to three, says Planning Mindfully.
How you will let other people know about your resolutions
“Some research shows that telling others your goal makes you feel like you’ve already achieved it,” Dr Mehmet Oz, MD tells Good Housekeeping. According to other studies, though, sharing progress with people can assist in keeping you going, Dr Oz acknowledges.
You could confide in just one friend to start with, before opting to “share achievements with others when you’re on the road to success”, as Dr Oz advises.
Pursue just one goal at a time
Multitasking isn’t efficiency-boosting, insists mindfulness guru Pedram Shojai, who wrote the book The Art of Stopping Time. In fact, it could wreak havoc on your mental stability.
“If your focus is fragmented, you’ll likely find yourself getting anxious as new items come up when old ones are still incomplete,” he explains. He advocates that you instead segment activities across chunks of time and then “commit to being focused in those allotted minutes and see what happens.”
Start and maintain a written record of your progress
Some of your resolutions might entail building upon achievements of yours from 2019 – in which case, you could write down what you’ve managed. Add to that record as 2020 continues, as you could thereby ward off depressing thoughts of “I’m behind schedule” or “I’ll never get there”.
So, for adding new roofing to a Newcastle upon Tyne home, you could note down when you call a local roofing firm and, later, what progress it is making with that roof.
