For most people, making New Year’s resolutions takes place right after Christmas. You’ll sit down, think about all the things that worked this year for you and the things that didn’t, as well as the things that you accomplished and the things that you didn’t accomplish. You might write them down, or they may stay in your head. It’s really up to you.
You’re probably thinking to yourself, “I really want things to be different this year. I want to be successful in my resolutions as opposed to prior years.”
So how do you make it happen? How can you make things different? Here are some things to consider and possibly implement:
- If you haven’t written your resolutions down, do it. Put them somewhere at work where they will be in your face all the time.
- Find a friend at work that can help you stay accountable with your resolutions. After all, you spend a big part of your day at work, so why not enlist people who can support you? Conversely, ask your friend how you can support them.
- Turn your resolutions into SMART goals. Make them very specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.
- Set up reminders in your scheduling program of choice.
- Don’t get into comparing and despairing- you may see someone at work who has made a similar resolution getting faster results. The only person you should be competing with is yourself.
- Set up milestones and reward yourself for reaching them. There’s a tendency to discount the progress that you’ve made along the way.
As you achieve these milestones and keep your resolutions, you’ll gain credibility with yourself as well as the confidence to try even bigger things in the future.
