How to Make Your New Year’s Resolution Stick in 3 Steps

It’s time for that “New Year, New Me” adage again, and most of us can’t help but roll our eyes – knowing that most of us (ourselves included) are only good at keeping their New Year resolutions at the start of the year, but later on fall back into old habits after a few weeks or months.

Most of us usually start the year with a resolution such as losing weight, quit smoking/drinking, or quit Social Media for good. In most cases, we get to execute those resolutions pretty well, but then temptations come around and after a few weeks or months, we usually find ourselves slipping back to our old undesirable habits.

In fact, in a study made by the University of Scranton, only 8% actually get to achieve or execute their New Year’s resolution successfully. The other 92% obviously did not make it and are also the ones who keep making excuses, saying that the gym is too crowded, or that they need to destress from work or school once in a while.

The high number of people who cannot keep up with their own New Year’s resolution is not at all surprising. In fact, humans are really hardwired to resist changes in behavior. Nature has made sure that we are created that way – unfortunately. This is because of our basal ganglia, the part of the brain which is in charge of certain motor functions and pattern recognition.

This does not mean that we really have no hope of changing. Remember, there are still 8% of people out there who manage to keep their New Year’s resolution. So what did they do right? The first one, of course, is a change of mindset. Instead of seeing your resolution as a goal, it should be seen as a change of habit.

Forming new habits need a reassessment of your current routine. How much are you spending time reading, working, or watching TV? What small changes in your routine can help you accommodate several minutes of exercise or how can you fill in your routine to avoid some idle time (which increases your likelihood of smoking)? Once you have finished reassessing yourself and plotting a new possible routine to follow, here’s what you should do:

Choose an effective cue.

Cues are basically your ‘signal’ that can help you kickstart whatever you need to get done. It could be as simple as setting an alarm, but you can also get more creative with it – depending on what you have to do. You can leave your running shoes on the floor so that you can just slip on it when it is time to jog or put up a frame that will help remind/inspire you of what you have to do.

Pick a reward.

After choosing a certain cue, you also have to decide what kind of reward should you get once you have executed your new habit or resolution. After jogging, you may opt to buy your favorite tea/drink or reward yourself with an episode of your favorite show after hitting a weight goal. You must pick a reward that will actually make you happy and will motivate you more to maintain your resolution – you can even change it from time to time if it does not work for you anymore. But you have to make sure that you do this in moderation, or it might lead you astray from your actual goal.

Execute the routine.

Once you got your cue and reward set up, it’s time to execute the routine! Make sure that you actually develop your resolution as a habit and then it will be easily incorporated in your daily or weekly routine. If it helps, you can make use of an app or journal to help you keep tabs on your progress and goals.

Most of all, make sure that you actually break down your resolution into small, achievable, and realistic goals. If you want to lose 15 pounds, you can’t just starve yourself and exercise because you want to do it as fast as possible. This can easily wear you out, and you’ll be most likely overeating after losing those pounds. In short, it is unsustainable.

To make that resolution work, you have to build up a healthy and active lifestyle and pace your weight loss at a more realistic pace. Try to start small like losing just 2 pounds a month. This will set you towards a more achievable first step, and you will have time to adjust to your new routine and diet plans.

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Check out this video as we talk more about this fascinating topic.

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