How to Guarantee Your New Year’s Resolution’s Success

It is the New Year and that means it's time for our New Year's Resolutions!  Are you ready?  And more importantly, are you ready to learn how to make sure you accomplish your New Year's Resolution this year?

Every year, millions of people set out to change their life in some way, shape, or form.  They craft great, big New Year's Resolutions like joining the 7 figure club or standard resolutions like exercising 4 times a week or swearing off Mickey D's.

But for some reason, despite all the momentum and good vibes that welcoming a new year brings, our New Year's Resolutions can barely make it past January.

Why is that?  Where do we go wrong?  And how do we go right?

As always, ya girl has got you covered!  In this post, we'll explore why things go wrong when it comes to sticking to your New Year's Resolutions and ways you can ensure things go right.

Cause, seriously.  You are making these New Year's Resolutions for a reason.  And, because you are here reading this article right now, I know you want to actually accomplish your New Year's Resolution.

So let's make this year different from the rest.  This year our New Year's Resolution will end in success!

3 Big Reasons Why New Year's Resolutions Fail

There may be many reasons why year after year, you keep failing at your New Year's Resolution.  After all, it's not unheard of for people to have the same New Year's Resolution year in and year out.

But why do a majority of all resolutions fall through the cracks?  Is it because no one has the will power or follow through to achieve them?  Or because all these New Year's resolutions are too far fetched?

No.  Not exactly.

There are 3 main reasons why your New Year's resolutions fail.  Learn them now so you know what not to do this year.

1.  Choosing a Resolution That is Not Your Own

Pressure is real.  And some of you may feel pressured by your mother, cousin, sister, brother, and/or aunt to do things that, deep down, you don't actually want to do.  

This leads you to trying to embrace someone else's resolution as your own.  And we can all guess how that'll end.  Yup!  With it being thrown by the way-side in just a few weeks.

Don't buckle under the pressure!

When you choose your resolution, make sure it something that YOU actually want to do and not something you think you should do because that's just what society or your family says you should do.

2.  Not Being Specific Enough About How You are Going to Accomplish it

Just throwing a resolution out there without thinking about the steps you are going to take to accomplish it is like wishing on a star and hoping a miracle will happen.

As someone once said, "A goal without a plan is just a wish."  Without action steps for you to achieve your goal, it will be very easy for you to lose your way.  And we both don't want that.

When you are setting a goal that you want to accomplish, why leave it to chance?  Instead, take the initiative.  Lay out a plan that is both doable and challenging (to keep you on your toes).  And one that will lead you to your goal.  

3.  Trying to Accomplish it in a "Hostile" Environment 

A big reason that people fail to accomplish their New Year's Resolution is because they try to enforce new habits while keeping the same environment that encouraged their bad habits to begin with.

Going on a no sugar diet for the year when your house is full of cupcakes, Little Debbie's brownies, and Reese's is probably not a very good idea.  Neither is hanging out with your friend who only wants to go shopping when your New Year's Resolution is to save money to buy a house.

That is what I would call a "hostile" environment.

If you are serious about accomplishing your goals this year, take a look at your environment and see what has to go.  What things will get in the way of you completing your New Year's resolution?

10 Ways to Make Sure You Accomplish Your New Year's Resolution

Base Your New Year's Resolution Off of a Deep WHY

Deciding on a New Year's resolution is huge.  It is a year long commitment that could potentially change your life for the better.  That's why you need to make sure whatever it is you decide to do, you are deeply motivated to see it through. You need a BIG Why!

For instance, if your goal is to lose weight, a BIG why would be because you want to live a long healthy life so you can see your grandchildren grow up.  Or maybe your resolution is to start investing because you want to show your children how to build wealth.

Double check your resolutions this year and make sure they are based off of a BIG Why.  If not, go back and do it all over again.

Prepare Your Environment

As mentioned earlier in the 3 big reasons why people fail to accomplish their New Year's resolutions, your environment plays a significant role in your success or failure.

Your environment can include your household (everyone and everything in it), your job and colleagues, and even the friends you hang out with regularly.  All of these people and things make up your environment and can affect your success rate.

So once you decide on your New Year's Resolution, think about how your environment can help you or harm you.  Do you need to tell your Mother Dearest to stop sending you her homemade banana bread?  Will you need to get rid of all the candy in your house?  Do you even have running shoes?

Whatever the case may be, make sure you are prepared to achieve your goals and that your environment, instead of tempting you to the dark side, is actually supporting on your path towards it.

Tell Family and Friends and Ask for their Help

Speaking of your environment, your family and friends are a part of it and so they should be filled in on your New Year's resolutions.  Why?  Because you may need their support and cooperation as you try to accomplish your resolution.

After you fill them in, don't forget to mention how exactly they can support you on this journey.  What do you need from them? - No judgement? A sympathetic ear?

Let them know!  True friends and family, who love you, will be willing to lend you a helping hand.

Write it Down

Some say a goal is not a goal until it is written.  ... Okay, actually, full disclosure, I just made that up.  But it's true!  And definitely applies to your New Year's resolutions.  

In a way, writing something down brings it to life, makes it real.

So if you want to make your resolutions official, put it in writing!  Treat it like a contract you are making with yourself this year and post it up somewhere you can see it everyday.

Create a Roadmap 

With your New Year's resolution now written for the whole world to see, you need to start creating the action plan that will lead you to reaching your goals.  You need to create your Roadmap.

To do this, start with the end in mind.  Then work your way backwards writing down each step you would need to take that will get you to the next one.  You will need to be as detailed as possible.  So don't hesitate to spend a lot of time here mapping out your plan.

Because, once you have a nice detailed plan of action, your success, as long as you stick to the plan, is all but assured.

Have Checkpoints 

So now that you have a plan of action that you are ready to implement to achieve your goal, you need to decide when you want to check in on your progress.  Daily? Weekly? Monthly?

It is important for you to personally check in on your progress every now and then.  That's because, these check-ins give you a chance to see how you are doing and figure out ways you can make it easier on you.

So set a time where you can look at what is going well, what isn't, and what things you could do to make them go better.

Couple it Up

If you are trying to start a new habit, as most resolutions are, you'll want to give it a habit buddy.  What I mean by this is that you want to take something that you already do regularly and couple it up with your new resolution.

For instance, if your New Year's resolution is to get in a little exercise everyday, why not do it as soon as you get up?  Quietly, that is exactly what I do.  I start my exercises while I'm in bed!

Or if you want to start reading every night,  how about doing this after you brush your teeth?  That way you start to create a pattern and it becomes easy.  Brush my teeth then read my book.  Check.

Have Your Reward Ready

Do you remember the Book IT program?  You know.  The one where, as a child,  you would read a certain number of books and then get a free pizza.  Yup! That one! 

Well, you may be all grown up now but even adults need a little something something to keep us motivated and in the game.  So think of a treat that you can give your self at various checkpoints for sticking with your New Year's resolution.

It could be a trip to your favorite vegan restaurant after a solid month of no eating out.  Or a slice of Mama's sweet potato pie after a full two weeks of daily workouts.

Whatever it is, make it something that you will look forward to each and every time!

Get an Accountability Partner

Having an accountability partner is one of the best ways to make sure you accomplish what you set out to do.  Statistics show that having regular check-ins with your partner will increase your chances of success to 95%!

Your accountability partner should be someone who knows all about your New Year's resolutions and your reasons behind them.  So pick a trustworthy bestie and let them in on your goals.  Make sure though that you pick someone who won't take no bull and will keep you on your toes.

If you fall off, what will you do to get back on?

Of course, there is one thing we don't want to even consider when writing up our goals for the New Year and that is the possibility of failing.  But giving it some consideration can actually help you stick to your plan.

By taking some time to think about what you will do if you do fall off the bandwagon, you can set up a plan of action to get yourself back on track.

Miss one day of workout?  Make it up with a quick morning run.  Went over your social media limit for the week?  Take away a few hours from the next week.  

Or how about just making a plan to never miss your resolution two times in a row.  So you messed up once?  That's okay give yourself a break.  And don't miss it back to back.

It's good to remember that sometimes we will mess up.  And if we want to accomplish our goals, we can't beat ourselves up too much for the mistakes we make.  Instead, acknowledge it.  Then make plans to make it right.

All in All

Thinking of New Year's resolutions is always fun.  Dreaming up how are lives will be much better off after we accomplish our goals is the best.  But sadly, many of us struggle with the follow through.

But hopefully, now that you have these 10 tips, you  can ensure that you will accomplish all of your New Year's resolutions from here on out.

Here's to hoping for the best!  Good Luck!