Be Resolute in Your Resolutions
About 40% of Americans make a New Year’s resolution. The most common resolutions are related to financial health (save more, spend less) and physical health (getting into shape, losing weight, etc.) While these great resolutions start out with the best of intentions, the reality is that 80% of resolutions fail by the second week in February. An 80% failure rate in productivity would never be acceptable in the workplace, so why do we accept it in our personal goals? In other words, how can we become more resolved to make our personal resolutions or goals resolute?
Here are some tips that could help you find success in your resolutions:
- Set reasonable goals.Whether the goal is weight loss or save more, make sure it is a realistic goal. For example, resolving to lose 20 pounds in two months is not a realistic or healthy goal, but losing 2-3 pounds in a month can be achievable. Resolving to run 10 miles every day is not a realistic goal, especially if you are not a runner, but running or walking a few miles a couple days a week is realistic. Resolving to save 40% of your paycheck is not realistic. But investing 5% of your paycheck into some sort of interest bearing account is within the reach of most people.
2. Get an accountability partner. Everything is always more fun and more do-able if you have someone doing it with you. Find a workout partner. Ask a f friend to commit to a “no-spend” Saturday each month, and do something active instead like taking a hike, or going for a bike ride (i.e. killing 2 birds with one stone if you have made resolutions for both financial and physical health). It is always easier to succeed if you know that someone is going to be checking up on you.
3. Get a scale and a budget book. We need to track our goals. Americans spent roughly $729 billion dollars during the 2019 holiday season. Typically, holiday spending falls into the following 3 categories:
a. Gifts for family and friends: approximately $638;
b. Non-gift holiday purchases such as food and decorations: $215; and
c. Other non-gift purchases for themselves or their families : $155.
A lot of the extra purchases during the holidays revolve around food, resulting in extra money spent and pounds added to our waistline. If you are resolving to either lose weight, or spend less money, or both, it is important to track where your money is going and/or what you are putting into your body. Coming up with a realistic budget and sticking to it, will cause you see where you money is going and perhaps where you can cut back. Getting a scale, (ouch! The “S” word) is really the only way to track whether you are meeting your weight loss goals. You don’t get obsessive about the numbers. But weighing yourself once a week, creates accountability, and allows you to evaluate your eating habits on a weekly basis.
4. Allow yourself a “cheat” item once a week.
If you are trying to lose weight, allow yourself to indulge on one item, one day a week. If your indulgence is coffee, allow yourself to have one flavored latte or cappuccino once a week. If your weakness is spending, allow yourself to spend $5 (or whatever is works with your budget) on something for yourself once a week. Completely eliminating something, whether it be a certain food or spending habit, usually does not lead to long term success. All this does is make that person focus on what they can’t have, thereby causing that person to be constantly thinking and obsessing about what they cannot have. However, if they allow themselves to say, have one dessert on Saturdays, then having to skip dessert the rest of the week becomes more do-able, because they know they will be able to indulge on Saturday. But if they try to cut dessert out altogether for the rest of their lives, they are setting themselves up for failure.
5. Click the “restart” button. Don’t give up if you experience a setback. If you bought
something on a whim, or nibbled on that piece of cake, don’t beat yourself up. Don’t quit
on yourself. Just push “restart” and start over. Again, having an accountability partner to encourage you to “stay the course” and be your cheerleader, will help you defy statics and lead to greater success.
There is a reason why we make resolutions at the beginning of a new year. We are reflective on the past year, and what to make some changes for the future. Our intentions are usually great, but following through with our intentions is often another story. Let forged into 2021 with not only good intentions, but a formula that will set us up for success.
Want more information?
