New Year’s Resolutions: Why they often don’t work.

Can you believe it!? 2019 is done and dusted and with a new year comes new goals and plans for the year to come!

We often over-look the amazing things we have achieved through out the past year and say to ourselves “Next year will be better”, but 2019, if you really think about it you have made achievements, whether they are big or small, and learnt many lessons along the way!

With a new year comes New Year’s resolutions, which are often short-lived and studies have shown up to a quarter of people who have great intentions to start New Year’s resolutions fail after a week!

Let's have a little look at why New Years Resolutions often fail and what is a better way to approach making positive changes that are sustainable and achievable long term.

-A lot of the time we are setting goals based on what we think we should be doing, but often we are not ready to make the changes we are expecting of ourselves. Setting monthly goals helps us track goals each month which often helps us stay on track.

-The most common New Year’s Resolutions are to lose weight, save money, pay -off debt, exercise more and eat better. These are great goals but you need to have a plan on how you intend on making them work, what is your plan? What date do you want to achieve each particular goal and what needs to change to make your goals a reality?

-Some of us set goals that we think will be easy to achieve, so put little thought into how we plan to implement these changes. It is important to remember change is often hard so go easy on yourself, make small changes/ goals and set dates to when you hope to achieve those goals.

When setting goals I always encourage my clients to focus on small sustainable goals, set long and short term goals, focus on what is a priority for you! Why do you want to lose this weight or why do you want to improve your fitness or further your study or change jobs, for example. Think about what is important and set realistic goals!

So all in all when setting goals for the New Year:

-Set monthly goals and a date that you wish to achieve that goal by. Check-in regularly on your progress and look at is and isn’t working for you.

-Prioritise goals and think about what is important to you at this current time, be realistic with what you wish to achieve.

-Planning is key, what do you need to do to make your goals come to light.

-Remember change is often hard so go easy on yourself if you don’t hit your goals straight away, any positive change is amazing

-Vision-boards are a great way for you to set your short and long term goals. Having your goals on display for you to regularly have a visual reminder of the amazing things you hope to achieve for the year is a powerful visualisation tool.

-Imagine your future self having achieved your goals. Visualisation and mindset are one of the most important tools in achieving goals, have a go and look into this further, you will be surprised!

Most important have an amazing, productive and healthy year!

 xx

Abbie