Make Positive Changes in 2023 with Lasting New Year's Resolutions (You'll Actually Keep)
If you're planning to make a resolution this new year, you may worry about succeeding at this task. These tips will help you improve your daily quality of life, create realistic new year goals, and make the most of 2023.
Identify the Right Resolution for your Individual Needs
Specific
Make sure your resolution is absolutely clear. Having a concrete goal is much more likely to result in success than having a vague new year's resolution. Simply saying you "want to lose weight" is different than saying, "I want to lose ten pounds in six months." The latter has a tangible goal and timeline that is more likely to help you develop positive habits.
Measurable
Try logging your progress on a tracking app to help you stay motivated and achieve your new year's resolutions. While this may seem obvious if you're goal is related to fitness, it can also help with reducing negative habits like finger-nail biting by giving you a way to track your progress and keep your new year's resolution on track.
Achievable
This doesn't mean you shouldn't aim for significant new year's resolutions. Instead, it means you should identify goals that won't leave you frustrated because they are nearly impossible for anyone to achieve. A good example of this would be setting an unachievable goal of retiring in one year. An achievable goal would be to contribute extra income to a savings account every month that is dedicated to your retirement fund.
Relevant
One of the most important aspects of picking a new year's resolution is making sure it will positively impact your quality of life. Determine why you have chosen a particular new year's resolution and make sure that it speaks to your true values and goals. Identifying a new year's resolution based on someone else's beliefs or ideas often leads to frustration and failure and can have the opposite effect.
Time-Bound
Similar to "achievable," having a timeframe for your new year's resolution. Building positive habits takes time and giving yourself a plan based on tangible dates like one week, one month, and six months can help you discover your strength and illustrate how much progress you have made. Sticking to your plan will help build positive habits in other aspects of your personal life. Gradual progress will develop into lifestyle changes that may continue for the rest of your life.
Create a Plan and Stick to it by Building Positive Habits
Goals aren't achieved if a thoughtful and achievable plan isn't in place. Reaching a goal requires establishing positive habits.
Change doesn't happen overnight, and you need to plan for any roadblocks you may encounter along the way. Whether you are trying to form or break a habit, one of the best ways to do this is to break it down into three parts: a cue, a routine, and a reward.
Examples:
Bad habit: I look at social media too often.
Cue: I experience loneliness.
Routine: I look at Instagram.
Reward: A feeling of connection.
Method to change the behavior: Call a friend or family member to discuss one positive thing that happened to you today and leave your phone when you hang up.
Personalize Your Plan Based on your Lifestyle
Making small changes to your lifestyle may sound easy, but it can be a challenge to maintain these improvements on a daily basis.
Personalize your plan and make the most of 2023 by replacing one negative habit in your life with a positive behavior that will allow you to enjoy every day to the fullest. Using the cue, routine, and reward method is ideal for identifying the cause of undesired behavior. It is especially helpful for people looking to cease a habit and replace it with a healthier pattern. Another benefit of personalized goals is that you are more likely to remain committed because you have an investment in achieving your goals.
Be Prepared for Challenges
One of the most important things to remember is that hurdles are going to present themselves. Being able to confront these challenges and overcome them will help you grow and create lasting improvements.
It's essential to remind yourself that with every new year's resolution, there will be hurdles that present themselves, and you need to remain prepared to face these challenges as they arise. By preparing for these challenges with a plan, you are far more likely to achieve your new year's resolution than if you face them in the moment.
One of the biggest reasons many people fail to achieve their goals is that they perceive a lack of progress and let their guard down. It's important to remind yourself that progress takes time, and you're on a journey that will take time and present hurdles. Give yourself daily, weekly, and monthly check-ins that include affirmations, and keep a journal that tracks your progress.
Also, remain optimistic about your goals and take time to mark the positive changes you have made since starting on your journey. If you make a mistake and don't keep up your new year's resolution, it's critical to identify why your goal broke down and not be too hard on yourself. Mistakes happen, and it is natural to falter when you start to make positive changes to your daily routines.
If you have a minor hiccup, remind yourself that it's ok to make a mistake and simply start your program again.
Utilize your Community
Don't be afraid to join online communities or find local groups and meetups that support your new goals.
Stating your goal to an online community can create accountability and keep you on track if you're worried about self-motivation for your new year's resolution. This can be as large or small as you're comfortable with, and you can even just divulge your goal to one person to create a sense of accountability that will help you stay strong in the face of challenges or distractions.
If your new year's resolution is fitness related, find a local group of enthusiasts who perform the same exercise routine as yourself and join them for a weekly workout. Not only will this make you accountable, you will be surrounded by people with common goals who will continue to motivate you further. Gyms and other training facilities are a great way to keep yourself inspired.
If you Don't Reach your Goal..
It's important to know that if you fail at your new year's resolution, you shouldn't beat yourself up and now that you are not the only one to not succeed at their stated goals. Acknowledge your mistake and endeavor to start working on your goal again the next day or when you feel prepared. Be kind to yourself and remember that if achieving these goals was easy, you wouldn't have endeavored to try in the first place.
Don't get discouraged if you have an issue keeping up your new year's resolution idea. Many people fail to think of not succeeding as an option when they ask themselves, "what is a new year's resolution I can achieve."
Also, remember that you haven't failed because you have learned about the difficulty of the process and are now prepared to face the challenge in the future with greater knowledge, understanding, and experience. Change is difficult and takes time, but the journey will allow you to use this experience to live a happier, healthier, and more positive lifestyle that will make you a better partner, friend, parent, or child.
It's not a failure if you don't succeed in fully achieving your new year's resolutions; you have learned valuable skills and ways to identify how you can improve your daily quality of life.
Conclusion
At Historic Prints, our new year's resolution is to continue to provide excellent customer service and build up our curated catalog of vintage prints and vintage wall art. We strive to provide thoughtful pieces of cartographical history that bring the past to life and create elegant decor for any space.
Join the Historic Prints newsletter to stay up to date on new promotions, news, updates, and more!
