Imagine it’s mid-July, six months after you’ve found out how to make New Year’s resolutions stick. You’ve just woken up before the sun. You stretch, shower, and meditate. After a delicious breakfast, you head out for day of meaningful work. It’s straight to the gym after work! When you get home, you ignore the TV and pick up the latest book you’ve been tearing through. You’re in bed around 10, and fall right asleep because you’ve given up caffeine.

Doesn’t that sound fantastic? That scenario is probably chock-full of resolutions you’ve made for the new year. The problem is…. Well, we all know the problem. They don’t stick. That exciting future described above seems very far away when you quit heading to the gym by January 5th. We know the struggle, so here are five strategies you can use to make New Year’s resolutions stick this time around.

1. START SMALL… LIKE, INSANELY SMALL

If you’ve never gone to the gym a day in your life, you don’t have a chance of sticking to a seven day a week schedule… yet. Instead, maybe you start with one home-bodyweight workout a week. Does that sound almost too easy? Good, that means you’ll complete it! In a few weeks, bump that up to three workouts. After that habit is set in stone, THEN buy the gym membership.

This process of baby steps leading to massive growth is called Kaizen, and it’s the foundation of our Five Day Forge program. You’ll set a vision for your entire life, break it down into achievable goals, and create your effortless Kaizen habits to get you there… all in five days. Learn more here.

2. TELL EVERYONE OR TELL NO ONE? NEITHER: TELL THE RIGHT PEOPLE.

If you read blogs like this often, you’ll notice there are two schools of thought when it comes to sharing your goals. Some people say you should tell as many people as possible, to help motivate you and keep yourself accountable. Others say that sharing your goals before you complete them makes you less likely to follow through, because you technically already got your hit of dopamine from #humblebragging.

Because the experts can’t decide, we say tell the right people. Sometimes, we all tell others our big plans because we want to impress them. That’s not effective. Find three or four people and create a mastermind: a small team dedicated to each other’s success. Tell these people your goals. Check in with them extensively. Celebrate wins and deconstruct failure. You’re much more likely to succeed with a group like this.

3. TRY QUARTERLY GOALS INSTEAD OF NEW YEAR’S GOALS

There’s something nice and neat about three months, or a quarter of a year. Many times we don’t make specific goals for the new year; we often say something vague like “eat better” or “spend more time with family”. These are born to fail because they aren’t measurable.

Instead, try manageable benchmarks you plan to hit by the end of three months. If your New Year’s resolution is to eat better, then you should be “eating healthy meal number 1, 2, or 3 for every breakfast by April 1st.”

That will give you one month to get started, one month to struggle with consistency, and one month to nail it. Once you hit that benchmark, then you can move onto lunch.

MOVING FORWARD

By now, New Year’s resolutions have become somewhat of a stereotype. It seems like half the time, people don’t even give them a fair shot! So, launch a resolution whenever you want. Start today, if you want to prove to yourself that you really mean business. We’re rooting for you. You CAN make New Year’s resolutions stick.

PS: If you’ve been on Conquer Today long, you might groan at how much we try and bring home the idea of SMART goals, baby steps, Kaizen, and benchmarks. That’s because it works. Have you tried them? Have you tried them again after round one fails (as is typical)?

The best way to make New Year’s resolutions stick is with the Conquer Today Habit Skill Tree. You’ll pick a few key habits, set those benchmarks, and use the “no zero day” method to make sure you are leveling up in real life. Download below. 

Leave a comment: What’s your New Year’s resolution?