how to make new year resolutions

Every year before the New Year begins, we all have faced a similar situation, that is we wonder what kind of New Year we should go through, and how to set our New Year resolutions.

When the New Year is just around the corner, we all feel as if we have to turn over to a new page. It is a brand-new beginning after all, but what kind of resolutions should we set and how should we live the New Year?

The transition from 2019 to 2020 makes us feel hopeful again. No matter how bad things have gone, we can do better. With the New Year comes, it gives us the catalyst, motivation, and drive to reinvent ourselves again.

And if you have been doing great all this while, the New Year promised even better things. You will feel hopeful and expect something even better.

However, there is bad news…

First, December and January may not be the ideal months for setting goals and to start something new. Why?

The reason is simple, we’re all in the middle of holidays and vacations. People are celebrating Christmas and New Year. And for Chinese, the Lunar New Year falls in end January too.

Hence, you will be in the shopping and celebration mood rather than being in the mood to plan for the New Year.

Second, many people treat their New Year’s resolutions as something like a vague idea.

They may think to themselves, “Alright, this New Year, I’m going to stop smoking”, or telling themselves, “I will work harder and earn more money.”

But that’s all they do. They thought that a resolution is just a plain idea that they hold in their heads.

And this is why most people fail to achieve their New Year resolutions.

My friend, if you are serious about living a better life, achieving your resolutions, and becoming more successful in the coming year, you can’t just treat your targets like an idea.

You need to do more than that. You need to have a solid and actionable plan for your New Year resolutions.

And this is what this article is all about.

If you want to know what are the common New Year’s resolutions most people make, check out my previous article below:

Top 20 New Year Resolution Ideas You Should Consider

I’m going to share with you the 7 steps you can take to turn your New Year resolutions into a concrete plan where you can execute and make 2020 your best year.

Here are the 7 steps…

1. Get Mentally Prepared

I believe that the first thing you need to do is to get yourself to mentally prepare for what’s coming.

You have to acknowledge and accept that there will be difficulties and problems. There will be roadblocks and people may stop you from achieving your New Year resolutions.

Thus, it is important to take note of this and be prepared for the hardships when they come.

A lot of people fail to achieve their goals because they give up somewhere along the line. When they face difficulties, they focus on the problems and quit because it is difficult.

Instead, you must learn to understand that setbacks and failures are common. It is not about whether you will face failures and make mistakes in your journey, it is about being resilient and learn from the experience.

Robert Kiyosaki once said:

“Failure defeats losers. Failure inspires winners.”

The same event can defeat you or it can inspire you. The difference between a loser and a winner is their mentality.

One person looks at his defeats and says, “This is too difficult. I can’t do it.” And then he gives up.

On the other hand, a winner will treat his defeats this way, “This is challenging. I can do it.”

The same situation, but two different mentalities. Therefore, be mentally prepared.

If you really want to make 2020 your best year, you must acknowledge that there will be difficulties and move forward despite them.

7 Powerful Steps How to Overcome Failure in Life and Bounce Back

2. Make a Decision

The second step is to make a decision. Yes, decide right now that you’re not going to back down until you achieve your resolutions.

Many people don’t really decide when it comes to achieving their goals.

In the beginning, when they feel motivated, they say to themselves that they will do whatever it takes, and they will never back down.

But when things become tough, when they don’t feel as motivated, when they face rejections, when they are not in the mood, etc., they started to doubt themselves.

They forget the fact that they have made a decision to do whatever it takes.

It is easy to say that you will wake up at 5 AM every morning and workout for an hour. Things are easy when you have motivation, and everything is good.

But the real test comes when you face hardships, roadblocks, and difficulties. Imagine if you sleep for just 3 hours because the night before you went for a drinking session with your friends.

And when your alarm goes off at 5 AM, you’re supposed to get up and exercise because you want to look fit and get back in shape. But you don’t have the drive because you lack sleep. Plus, what if it is raining out there and it is cold?

This is when most people fail to stick to their plan. They forget about the decision they have made to themselves.

So, make it a commitment right now. Make a decision that you will stick to your plan and do whatever it takes to achieve your New Year’s resolutions.

This is the kind of spirit and attitude you need to achieve your goals. This is how you can make 2020 your best year.

Learn from Dwayne Johnson. When the tough times come, don’t say “Why me?” Instead, say “Try me!”

10 Powerful Steps How to Fully Commit to Goals That Terrify You

3. Set Big and Exciting Resolutions

Yes, start with setting big and exciting resolutions. You want something that pulls you toward it.

Imagine setting a small resolution that is not interesting to you at all, do you think you will have the motivation and the drive to take action on it?

Not at all, right? This is why you must make your New Year resolutions big and exciting. You want to be looking forward to taking action.

You don’t want to set a goal that not exciting to you. When you don’t feel exciting toward a goal, you will never bother if you are going to achieve it.

Here are a few pointers that can help you:

Set a resolution that you really want.

Ask yourself, really ask yourself, “What do I want to achieve in 2020?” Don’t be affected by others and never let other people influence what you want to achieve in your life.

This is your life and you have the responsibility to live it according to your terms and way. If you set a goal because someone wants you to, you will never feel the excitement because it is not your goal.

Make your resolutions emotional.

The best way to make your goals exciting and interesting is to make them emotional. Try to connect them with your inner values.

Instead of setting a materialistic resolution such as “buying a car” or “get promoted”, make your resolution from your inner values.

Why do you want to buy your dream car? Is it that you want to impress others? Or is it because you want to make yourself feel proud? Use the inner values and intrinsic motivation to drive your actions.

Get others to involve.

Yes, get someone to involve in your plan. You don’t want to do it all by yourself. Why? Because when you do, you can easily back down, and no one will know.

But when someone is involved, like when you get yourself an accountability partner, you will have no other way but to press on and move forward. Your partner will check on you if you are doing good, or if you are on track.

Furthermore, when you are feeling down or have no motivation, your accountability partner can encourage you. And when you have victories and produced some wins, you can celebrate together.

Need more help? Read this article:

7 Factors How to Set Exciting Goals that Drive You Every Day

4. Turn Them into Smaller and Actionable Milestones

Don’t just set your resolutions as something big, you must also turn them into smaller and actionable milestones.

For example, if your resolution is to get back in shape, what you can do is to set up milestones to mark your progress.

If you want to lose 5 KG by June 2020, it means that you are supposed to lose 1 KG a month. So, what do you need to do to lose that weight? Exercise and a diet plan.

How should you exercise? Are you going to hit the gym twice a week? Run at least 10 KM twice a week? Or are you going to attend a yoga class?

How about your diet plan? What are the foods that you are going to eat more and what junk foods are you going to give up?

These are the actionable steps you must identify so that you can achieve your resolutions.

Most people approach their resolutions like a vague dream. They just dream about having a slim and fit body, but they don’t come up with actionable milestones where they can measure and work on.

This is why a lot of people fail to achieve their New Year resolutions. And by the end of the year, they fall back into a similar situation and they have to set the same old resolutions, again.

Never let this happen to you.

If you want to make a positive change in your life, you must set it as a goal or a commitment, and then back up the goal with an action plan.

Why Start Small? The 5 Important Benefits of Starting Small

5. Record Your New Year Resolutions

The next thing you need to do is to record down your resolutions. You want to write down everything. Put down your resolutions on paper, notebook, planner, diary, etc.

Don’t just leave everything in your head. If you only try to think about your New Year resolutions in your head, trust me, you will forget about them in less than 24 hours.

Most people don’t even bother to write down their resolutions. And they wonder why they fail.

How you treat your resolutions gives a clear sign of how committed you are toward them. Here’s an inspiring story you should know:

When Monty Roberts was in high school, his teacher asked the class to write about what they wanted to do when they grew up. Monty wrote that he wanted to own a ranch and raise thoroughbred racehorses.

His teacher gave him an F and explained that the dream was unrealistic for a boy living in a camper in the back of a pickup truck. He would never be able to make this a reality. When the teacher offered the chance to rewrite his paper for a higher grade, Monty told him, “You keep your F; I’m keeping my dream.”

That’s the commitment shown by Monty Roberts. How about you? How committed are you?

If you are 100% committed, you will do whatever it takes. But if you are not, you will never bother writing down and recording your New Year resolutions. It will just like a random thought that appears in your thinking. Easy come easy go.

Therefore, write down your resolutions, targets, milestones, and action steps.

Use these goal setting templates to help you make your New Year’s resolutions more effective.

6. Check-In and Measure Your Progress Regularly

Actually, I don’t really like the phrase “New Year resolutions”. Why? It gives an impression to people that it is something that you do once during the new year.

Meaning, you will never revisit your resolution again? Well, this is where most people get it wrong.

They thought that setting goals or having New Year resolutions is something that they do just once and then they can forget about it.

No. I believe that goal setting is like any other skill, you need to do it on a regular basis to improve it.

You can’t set it once in December or January, and then don’t care about it. You have to revisit and check in from time to time.

In order to achieve your New Year’s resolutions and your goals, you must measure them and track them.

The only way you can tell if you are moving forward or away from your target is to measure your progress. If you don’t measure them, you will never know how well you’re doing, right?

Just like if you want to lose weight, what is the first thing you need to do? You step on the weighing machine and weight yourself. You measure where you are so that you can know if you are progressing forward.

Use these action plan templates to help you measure your progress. And at the same time, check out these 5 methods how you can measure your progress:

How to Track Your Goals: The 5 Fabulous Ways You Should Consider

7. Execute and Do Something, Right Now!

Yes, the final step you need to take is to do something right now, anything. There is power in execution right away.

You want to build the momentum so that you will follow through and take even more action.

Thus, don’t just read this article and then exit this blog and do nothing. Nothing is going to change if you don’t act on something.

You can read a good book, but if you are going to just read the book but are not implementing any idea from the book, nothing will change.

Hence, do something right now.

  • Go and buy a diary or a planner for the year 2020.
  • If one of your resolutions is to lose weight, weigh yourself now.
  • Print out the action plan template and use it.
  • Write down your goals.
  • Find images on the internet and create a vision board for your New Year resolutions.
  • Want to build a successful blog? Then plan for it right now and take the step right away.
  • Want to start a business? Brainstorm your business name and get it registered.

Success is about what you do, not what you think you will do.

So, don’t get it wrong. Making and planning your New Year resolutions is just the first step in making what you want a reality.

You have to continue to work on your resolutions if you want to achieve them in 2020.

If you don’t do anything about your resolutions, you will go through 2020 the same as in 2019 and wonder why your life doesn’t change.

Ask yourself, are you really serious about living a better life? Do you really want to achieve your New Year resolutions? Do you want to achieve success?

Then do it. Take action and do something right now.

Now that you know how to make your New Year resolutions, below are a few Q&A to help you understand how resolutions work and make them even more effective.

Why Do You Want to Make Resolutions?

Have you ever thought about why do you want to make resolutions? It is like goal setting, why do you want to set goals?

The short answer is that you want to live an intentional life. You want to turn your dreams into your goals, and then make plans and follow the plan to bring your dreams into reality.

Read this article:

Why Goal Setting Is Important? Read Before It Is Too Late For You

Do New Year Resolutions Work?

According to this article from Forbes, there was a research conducted about the effectiveness of New Year resolutions. And the study discovered that just 8% of people achieve their resolutions.

But you don’t have to be discouraged. This is why I created this article to help you define your New Year resolutions and to craft strategies to achieve them.

As long as you follow the right and proven path, you will eventually reach the right destination that you desire. So, just follow the steps and info suggested in this article.

What is the Most Popular New Year Resolution?

Do you want to know what is the most popular New Year resolutions that most people set? Check out this article below:

Top 20 New Year Resolution Ideas You Should Consider

Here’s what you need to understand, everyone’s resolutions are different. It doesn’t matter if the goals you set are different from other people. The key is to make sure your resolution is what you really want.

How Many Resolutions Should You Have?

This is a great question and I believe most people will have more than one New Year resolution.

The point is not about the quantity, it is about how many resolutions you can handle. Some people have over 20 resolutions, but some just focus on 3.

It is up to you. But you must make sure you can focus and are able to manage your resolutions. There is no point to have 100 goals but fail to achieve any of them. It is better to have just 1 or 2 really important goals and then focus on them and achieve them in the New Year.

What Now?

Now that you know how to make your resolutions, it is time to take action and execute your plan.

But what if you want to learn more and take goal setting to a higher level? Well, if you are serious about achieving your goals and making your dream life a reality, I suggest you check out this formula:

==> Goal Setting Formula: How to Set and Achieve Your Goals Like a Winner

It is a masterclass that I created to help my students to understand better about goal setting and how they can set and achieve their goals.

This article may contain affiliate links. Meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. As always, I only recommend products and services I trust.

By Shawn Lim

Hi there, this is Shawn. I inspire people to achieve their goals and dreams and to reach for higher success in life. If you want to learn more about me, kindly go to the About page. By the way, have you downloaded your FREE copy of The 90-90-1 Rule? Don't forget to do so. Cheers. :)

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