New Year’s resolutions have always seemed intimidating and many people seem to set themselves up for failure. Why is this? Well, from what I have seen and experienced in my own life, oftentimes it seems like people set New Year’s resolutions as a way to punish themselves for the things they didn’t like or the ways they “failed” in the previous year. For example, setting a goal like “eating no sugar” for yourself when you’ve struggled with healthy eating in the past, might mean you are setting yourself up to fail. You may stick with this goal for a week or two, but because it is restrictive, drastic and somewhat unrealistic, and doesn’t really have any smaller steps in between (either you accomplish the goal or you don’t), it’s very likely that eventually you will give up, and then feel bad about it.
Rather than setting unrealistic, restrictive resolutions, I believe strongly in setting achievable goals that make you excited for the year to come (much like you probably did back in elementary school!). Try setting up goals for yourself that are achievable and exciting, like trying to learn something you’ve been wanting to learn for a long time (a new instrument, a new language, taking a new class or workshop), or working towards developing a habit that will improve your health and/or wellbeing in the long term without the pressure of an all-or-nothing mindset. Some tips for setting these kind of goals are:
- Set many smaller, specific goals, that relate to different areas of your life, so that there isn’t so much pressure riding on accomplishing your ONE New Year’s resolution
- Set goals focused on long-term results and that have many small steps that you can track. That way, you can celebrate all the small accomplishments along the way to achieving the bigger goals
- Be very intentional with your goal setting. Think about if it’s something that is really YOUR goal (are other people making you feel like this is important, or is it really important to you?)
- Ask yourself if the idea of accomplishing this goal makes you excited about the year ahead (rather than it being something that makes you dread the year ahead)
- If you do have a goal related to wanting to start a healthier habit/lifestyle choice (for example, going to the gym), think about what is actually REALISTIC based on where you are starting off now. If you don’t go to the gym at all right now, then set a goal to go two times a week. If you have a consistent workout schedule already, try upping that by one or two extra days/workouts a week. Acknowledge where you are starting from, honour that, accept that, and work your way up in a sustainable way that will get you the long-term results you want to see (consistency truly is key, and you can only stay consistent if you don’t get burned out/overwhelmed)
- Continue to check-in on your progress, and be open to your goals, intentions and aspirations changing throughout the year. We’re all constantly growing as people, so a goal you set in January may not interest/serve you anymore by June. That is okay!
- Checking in is also a good way to update the goals that do continue to motivate you. If you have managed to work out on a consistent 2x a week schedule for the first three months of the year, and you are feeling motivated to make a bigger change, try increasing that to 3x a week for the following three months. If you tried cutting meat out of your diet for 5 days of the week and you enjoy doing it for six months of the year, try going vegetarian for the next six months. Allow yourself to grow!
Below is a sheet you can use to set a number of goals/intentions for 2023 related to sustainability, mental health/wellbeing, relationships, lifestyle and learning. Try it out and share it with your friends so you can hold each other accountable!
Happy new year!
