7 tips to help you keep your New Year’s resolutions

New Year, new me? Resolutions may be easier if they are broken down into more achievable goals rather than one grand one. Photo: Unsplash/Tim Mossholder

AROUND 80% of people who make New Year’s resolutions lose their goals by the middle of February, according to the Unites States News & World report, a body that compiles global college, grad school, hospital, mutual fund, and car rankings base in the U.S.

However, some don't even last that long.

In 2019, Strava, a fitness company analysed data from over 98.3 million uploaded exercise activities. The ensuing report by the company indicated that people are most likely to abandon their New Year's resolutions by the 19th of January, which the company deemed "Quitter's Day."Achieving New Year’s resolutions has proven to be a difficult task, but here are some tips, gathered from various sources, that may actually help us to stick to our 2022 resolutions.

1. Make a specific and measurable plan.

The number one reason people failed their resolutions was that the plans were too vague, says psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, author of Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days.

For instance, “I want to get a new job.” A goal like this may make you feel lost as it is not specific enough to track progress. Instead, try breaking goals down into smaller achievable goals such as editing your resume, updating your Linkedin profile, sending out resumes, or even networking with hiring managers for new opportunities. Plotting a timeline of when, where, and how you want to move forward is also helpful because it can help you anticipate or even be unwavering.

2. Frame goals positively

According to a 1995 study titled Goals and Framing: How Outcome Focus Influences Motivation and Emotion, framing goals positively can improve both performance and perseverance compared to plans framed negatively.

Take the example of quitting smoking: One way to succeed at quitting smoking is to maybe focus on saving money or the health benefits of a smoke-free life. Conversely, stressing out over the smoke breaks you will miss at work or the downtime it gives you will only make you more frustrated.

3. Piggybacking or temptation building

Behavourial scientist BJ Fogg suggests a technique called "habit stacking" in his New York Times bestselling book Tiny Habits. It’s essentially piggybacking a new habit onto an existing one to make it last because this will be easier than introducing and adopting a new habit relatively.

This technique can also be regarded as temptation building where you combine your resolution with a guilty pleasure.

For example, you love binge-watching Netflix shows when you should be working out at the gym. So rather than getting rid of watching your favourite programmes, you may consider letting yourself watch your shows in the gym so that you will start looking forward to working out.

4. Engineer your environment

Choice architecture is essentially a great way to help you make as few choices as possible to stay on course and not give in to temptations.

If you want to drink more water, keep a few bottles of water on your desk while you are working. If you want to reduce your sweets consumption, stop buying them and keep them out of your house. This way, you won’t be thinking of eating them for fun because you don’t have them.

5. Consider "fining" yourself

According to behavioral scientist Dr Katy Milkman, self-imposed cash penalties motivate success. This is because incentives can impact our decisions, and penalties are even more motivating than rewards at times.

You may consider utilising commitment platforms such as StickK.com and Beeminder.com to hold yourself accountable as well as to track your progress. These platforms invite you to put your money on the line. If you don’t achieve your goals, you will have to donate your money.

6. Get somebody to hold you accountable

Based on the research from The American Society of Training and Development, people that have accountability partners are 65% more likely to achieve their goals.

You can do this in two ways. Firstly, you can tell your family member or a friend about your goals and ask them to check in regularly on your progress. Your desire to not disappoint them will motivate you to stick with your new habit.

Secondly, you can join a group of people with similar interests to form a habit. For instance, if you want to start practising yoga, join a yoga class or a yoga group. If you are going to eat healthier, join a group where people share healthy recipes.

7. Give yourself room for mistakes

You plan to sleep early every night. However, you can’t help staying up late one Friday to watch an episode or even a new season of your favourite show. Don't beat yourself up about it. Researchers called this phenomenon the "what the hell effect" because you would think: “What the hell, I failed the plan just like that."

Avoid this by giving yourself some space to make mistakes. By granting yourself an “emergency,” it actually keeps you moving forward after a setback because you can always start over and try again. Perfection is impossible and what really matters is the long term.