Now that all the champagne bottles have been recycled and your back into the swing of things when it comes to your routine, it’s time to check in on those lofty New Years resolutions you made. Still holding on? Yeah, neither are we. While we all made those resolutions with the best of intentions, it’s time to get serious about our goals and what we really wanted to achieve. Here are three tips on how to get back on track and make those changes once and for all.
Write down your goals
Looking to get into a healthier lifestyle or learn a new language? Be realistic on what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it by. Write down both your short and long-term goals and give yourself a deadline, but be realistic about it. Put your goals somewhere where you’ll see them often (like your day-planner or on your fridge or your office) to help yourself stay focused and see the end goal.
Make a plan—and stick to it
Let’s say your goal is to get more exercise and live a healthier lifestyle—how are you willing to achieve this? Schedule your workouts a few times a week to start (especially if you’re going from zero to 60) and build up from there. Once you’ve got your yoga classes or treadmill time in your planner or calendar, it will help you stay accountable to yourself. Hoping to learn a new language before a big trip to Europe? Write in what time you’re going to practice each day. Just make sure when you schedule all these things in, you give yourself a couple of months’ window—remember 21 days helps build a habit!
Check-in with yourself regularly
Now that you’ve made your plan and you’re sticking to it, you need to remember to check-in with yourself and see if this plan is really working. Are you finding it too hard to get up early and do your workout? Can you switch to right after work instead or go to bed a bit earlier? Are you finding that you need a bit more time to develop this language? Try adding on 10 extra minutes a day or consider taking classes or connecting with someone who is fluent. Just because you’ve made a plan doesn’t mean you can’t reorganize it so it works for you. It is your goal, after all.
