Erin Christie
By now, a month has passed since the cheers for New Year, you’ve been busy getting on with 2017 and the ‘new year, new me’ resolution glamour has worn off. Looking over the resolutions you barely wrote down before you forgot them can feel disheartening – but it doesn’t have to be. Whether it’s saving, fitness or something else; where there’s a will there’s a way past the January post-resolution slump.
Make more specific goals
January is good for general resolutions that cover what you want to achieve without a plan as to how. ‘Get fit’ is a common one. How fit? Do you want to be able to run a marathon by August? Do ten push-ups on your toes by April? ‘Save money’ is another favourite. How much? By when? February is a great time to re-evaluate these goals in more specific terms to guide yourself. Writing them down for reference also makes them easier to review, so be sure to do that too.
Celebrate what you did achieve
Progress is sometimes a slow process, so if you didn’t achieve a goal by the end of January, it doesn’t mean you didn’t achieve anything. Say your goal was to save $800 from your earnings to put towards savings. If you saved $500, then you haven’t failed. You’ve made a step; it just wasn’t as big as you planned. Based on that progress, you can reassess for the following month and consider how to best achieve your desired amount. Be sure to make it achievable.
Track your progress from now
Keep on top of your achievements on a regular basis. This will ensure you’re on the path to reaching your resolutions. A journal can be helpful in this instance. Record how many minutes you can run when you first address your fitness goals, and watch it grow as the weeks pass. Write down an amount of money to put aside each week and make sure you do it. Break the goal down to be as specific as possible on the way to achieving it. This will convince you that you are constantly achieving, and keep you feeling encouraged as you progress.
Tell your friends
Getting a friend with similar resolutions to work with you can be a great help. They will make you accountable, and motivate you to keep going when you feel ready to give up. Ask around your friends to see if anyone else is feeling a little put-off by their January efforts, and see if they want to start anew with you by writing specific goals, sharing their achievements so far, and tracking the progress you make together. It will make things more fun if you have a friend to laugh with along the way to your goal.
In the end, reaching your end goals and resolutions is easier said than done. However, following these tips will help keep your goals alive and keep pushing you towards them, even if you took a month to begin.
