Don’t Give Up on Your Resolution Just Yet

Clarifying the "why" behind a resolution helps to establish the motivation to accomplish it, even when the going gets tough. Stock story/Shutterstock

Statistics tell us that most people who make New Year’s resolutions on January 1 give up on them within the first two weeks. If you’ve lost hope in the possibility of achieving your goals or if you’re beating yourself up for not following through on the aims you defined for the year, consider the following: The problem isn’t your willpower—it’s your strategy.

Oftentimes, people decide on a goal, declare their wish, and maybe even lay out some steps they plan to take to work toward their objective. Some days in, however, they lose steam or encounter obstacles, and before they know it, the dream has died.

It’s not too late to revisit your New Year’s resolution and develop a better strategy with a stronger foundation that will allow you to persist throughout the year and beyond.

Clarify Your Reasons

You can begin by clarifying your goal and then identifying why you’re aiming to achieve it. Often, simply wanting something is not enough. You need to have compelling and important reasons that will keep you going when obstacles inevitably arise.

For example, if your resolution was to lose weight or improve fitness, you might not have fully thought through the reasons you want to achieve that goal. When the first delicious temptation crosses your path, it may be quite easy to give in.

If your reasons for such a goal are meaningful, however, you might find your willpower is much stronger. For example, you may want to be able to actively participate more in your children’s or grandchildren’s lives; to have more confidence to fully show up and do the work you deem important; or to be an example of discipline, good health, and responsibility to people around you. These reasons may be compelling enough to keep you on track.

Emulate Success

You should further clarify your vision for success. Picture what it will look like to fully accomplish that goal and what that will mean to your life, your work, and your relationships. See in your mind’s eye the ripple effects that achieving your goal will have on every aspect of your life—really see it, as if that achievement has been fulfilled.

Ask yourself: What habits, thoughts, and behaviors does a person who succeeds in this area need to foster? Again, with the fitness example, this would surely include exercise, healthy eating, positive self-talk, and perhaps weekly meal preparation.

Develop a lifestyle similar to someone who has successfully accomplished your goal. Schedule the actions you’ll need to take, measure your adherence to the habits you’ll need to stick to, and design your life in a way that supports your goal.

Don’t Give Up

Take a long view and understand that you’ll run into pitfalls, challenges, obstacles, and failures along the way. As long as you don’t give up, success is bound to be in sight.

Enjoy the Process

As you get better and better in the process of achieving your goal, do all you can to enjoy the process. If you’re aiming for fitness, for example, the goal is actually not something you’ll achieve and then stop working toward. It’s a lifetime goal that you’ll clearly want to maintain over the long haul. So, celebrate any milestones you get to. Make the steps you take as fun, enjoyable, and delightful as you possibly can. As you go, improve and change your strategy to adjust to what’s needed.

You may have lightheartedly made a New Year’s resolution, but by adjusting your mindset and strategy, you can still make this year the one that you actually achieve your goal.