With 2021 coming to a quick close, we’re getting ready for our New Year and the habits that may come with it or go with the end of this year. It’s extremely common to create a list of New Year’s resolutions when we come to the end of December and near the next year to come, but sadly it’s also just as common for these goals to fall through or not quite live up to expectations. If you want to try out making your own resolutions for the coming year either to try for a more successful attempt or for your first ever resolutions, there are some ways you can prepare.
Here are some tips on how to prepare for New Year’s resolutions.
Reflect
Something not many of us think of when pushing forward for creating goals is to think back on the last goals or resolutions we set and what happened to them. For example, if you think you didn’t do so well with your accomplishments this year think about what may have kept you back or what can be tweaked to make next year more productive. Take some time to reflect on what aspects of life and goals are most important for you, what you did well with, and what may need to be improved.
Divide Topics
Don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking of all the many different areas you want to succeed in or focus on, or by focusing on too many things at once. Try to divide up what topics or sections of your goals for the year by most to least important or by most to least needed and work from there. If you make a ton of different goals it can be hard to stick to any of them, especially not all of them. Also try to divide up some resolutions to be easier to achieve and some to be a bit more pushing yourself.
Make a Plan
If you already have some New Year’s resolutions in mind, sit down and think out what may be needed to bring those to reality. Do you need workout equipment to reach an exercise goal? Do you need to focus daily time on this goal? How will it work out? Write out a small plan or at least some important things you will need to do or get to be able to make the most of each goal you want to set. This can also help you eliminate goals that won’t work out, or at least alter them to work better.
Don’t Sweat It
Probably our biggest piece of advice on this topic is to take things easy, and don’t stress over what may or may not come in the year. While it is good to prepare yourself for any good or bad outcomes of the goals you want, it’s not healthy to base your entire worth or success on if you make it to these goals either over this past year or for the year to come. Resolutions are a wonderful way to track progress, but shouldn’t be an ends-all to your mental well being if you don’t do that well on them.
It’s not exactly foolproof to be able to just make some resolutions on the fly and get them to stick, even though plenty of people out there that you see seem to have it all together or get working on their goals a lot easier than you do. But there are ways to make the process a bit easier on our minds and to make the year to come more likely to succeed. These tips, among others, can help you or your family to get ready for 2022 and any New Year’s resolutions or reflections that may come along so that you can have the most positive experience with goal setting or just living the next year as possible. We hope these tips can come in handy as we get through the last of 2021.