Have you broken your New Year’s Resolution already? Feeling like you have left yourself down and not sure what to do next? Well, keep on reading as I’m sharing 3 steps to help you cope if you have broken your New Year’s Resolution.
Step 1 – Don’t be hard on yourself for breaking your resolution
According to Tony Robbins, 95% of people have broken their new year resolution by the 15th January. If you have broken your resolution remember that you are in the majority and it is very normal. Most resolutions involve you breaking a habit or creating a new habit. In either case, this is challenging. A habit is believed to take a minimum of 21 days to form, so before that point every day requires effort.
Step 2 – Think about why you set the resolution in the first place
Sometimes we set new year resolutions because we think it is something we should do rather than something you want to do. For years, I would have resolutions around drinking more water, doing more exercise and eating healthier. Whilst all of these things were good for my health, I was setting them because I knew I should but I didn’t have a strong connection to the outcome. Think about your resolutions. Is this something you really want to stick to? If no, then decide that you breaking the resolution is proof that you don’t want it enough and let go of the resolution and put your energy and focus into the things that matter. However, if you decide resolution is important to you then commit to starting again from tomorrow and completing step 3.
Step 3 – Put a system in place to help stick to your new year resolution
As I mentioned in Step 1 forming a new habit is challenging. To help you stick to your resolution you need to put some systems in place. Maybe that is a tracker somewhere visible where every day you complete your resolution you put a tick. Building up a chain of ticks will hopefully encourage you to not break the chain. Or maybe you need to have an accountability partner so you know someone else is checking up on you. You can also make sure you are making your life easier by planning ahead where possible. If you want to drink more water, get a litre water bottle so it is easy for you to know you have drunk enough. If you are meant to go to the gym 3 times a week, but the dates in your diary. If you want to read a book a week get an app like Goodreads where you can record every book you have read.