15 Ways To Achieve Your New Year's Resolution

From Redditor u/PickleChristmas:

Try monthlong resolutions instead of a yearlong resolution. This reduces pressure. It lets you revisit your goals more often.

From Redditor u/Cordelia_Fitzgerald:

I wrote this for the weight loss sub. It focuses on weight loss, but it works for anything.

Remember to make SMART goals.

Goals should be:

Specific. "Lose weight" lacks detail. "Exercise more" lacks detail. "Eat healthily" lacks detail. Be as specific as you can. Add all the detail you can.

Measurable. You must measure your progress. Whether it is calories per day, weight loss per week, or exercise minutes per week, you need to know if you succeeded or failed. Put a specific number on your goal.

Achievable. Do not plan to lose 20 pounds a month all year. This sets you up to fail. Make your goal very achievable. Exceeding your goal beats setting an impossible target and getting frustrated. Focus on what you control. We cannot control weight loss. Saying "I want to lose 2 pounds a week" may be harder than saying "I want to eat no more than 1,500 calories per day." You control your food and exercise much more than the weight loss. The weight loss follows if you do the other two.

Relevant. Know why you want this change. The goal won't matter unless you have a clear, defined reason. This also means learning about nutrition and exercise. If you want low carb, for example, know the science and why it works. If you start strength training, research what makes a good program and why.

Timebound. Put a time limit on your goal. Set both short-term and long-term goals. "Lose 50 pounds this year" is good, but you need an action plan for THIS WEEK. Focus mostly on short-term goals. They build up to long-term goals. Short-term goals can change often if a goal feels wrong or too easy.

From aformer Redditor:

Turn all your resolutions into a step-by-step plan. Set a schedule with those steps. Add a point system to each step, ranging from 1 to 10.

Next, create a reward system for small, medium, and high benchmarks.

Set each reward based on the scheduled routines. Follow through on them. Do this enough times, and it becomes a habit. This creates the change you wanted.

If you fail, start again the next day. The key is not failing two days in a row. Keep going and track your progress. Doing this builds the new life you deserve.

If you download a life gamification app like [Habitica], they handle most of this for you.

From Redditor u/roboticArrow:

The best diet lets you never feel guilty or starved of food. This is a guilt-deprivation scale. Stay hungrier than a 4 or fuller than a 7. Going below 4 risks deprivation, increasing overeating and extreme guilt.

Do not deprive yourself of food you love. Just set a limit on the item. Instead of saying, "I'm never eating bread," allow yourself bread if you crave it. But do not eat more than you need, because that triggers guilt and the desire to deprive yourself again. Deprivation causes you to overeat what you are restricting.

This is a balance. It is just an idea. This helped me when I struggled with my weight and eating better.

From Redditor u/Joeycrackem:

Focus on habits, not end goals.

Do not fixate on end results. Focus more on the habits needed for those results. Your end goal is the total of thousands of choices you make before reaching it. Building habits takes patience and belief. Starting is always the hardest part. Many people quit before forming a habit because they assume the struggle lasts forever.

From Redditor u/chickencow08:

Get a friend to partner with you on resolutions. Go to the gym together (or compare workout notes), read the same book, and share new recipes. They help you stay accountable and give you motivation to start.

From Redditor u/SourLace:

If your goal is to "get organized," do not start by cleaning or moving items. Instead, try to remember or train yourself to always put things back where you found them for a few months. Most organization plans fail this way. If you do not put things back, your new spots for items won't last.

This method lets you notice your own patterns and see where you look for things. Any reorganization plan must use how you naturally organize things, with minor changes. If you cannot think to find something where you put it, you are not "organized"; you are creating a scavenger hunt your future self won't like.

From Redditor u/dannycarrey:

If you want to read more books this year, try reading 30 minutes daily. Why this way?

Easy to keep track...

Thirty minutes a day is not much!

If you succeed, you will read about 20-25 books by year's end.

PRO TIP: Read more than one book at a time.

From Redditor u/Eta5678:

I have a tip: Do not make one. Just go out and do it. Do not wait for the new year; start today. Stop lying to yourself about going to the gym more; we all know you stop after a few months. Stop lying to yourself...

From Redditor u/NumberMuncher:

Don't feel self-conscious starting at the gym. People focus on their own work; they won't notice you.

Everyone will notice you unless you do one of these things:

- Do not rack your weights.

Play music without headphones.

- Park yourself on equipment and stare at your phone.

- Do not wipe down your equipment after use.

- Act rudely toward gym staff and other patrons.

From Redditor u/DesignThe48:

Write down your New Year's resolutions instead of typing them. Writing activates a circuit that helps you commit to goals. Your senses help you recall what you wrote.

Use this method for more than just New Year's goals. Write down your daily goals, thoughts, and even your emotions!

From Redditor u/Joeycrackem:

Remember the bigger picture.

People often fail at New Year's resolutions because they forget the bigger picture. They forget why they started changing their lives. They choose short-term fun over long-term success. Use your imagination to recall memories with feeling when doubt hits and you want to quit.

From Redditor u/leora_learning:

I use 30-day challenges. If you want a new habit or lifestyle change, try this:

Use the Post-it note method. Place 30 Post-it notes in a visible spot, like the bathroom mirror or the door you leave. Every time you complete the task, take a note. Skip a day? Put all 30 back and start again. This builds habits and creates a winning streak. After 30 days, it becomes a habit, and you can start the next one. If you slow down, try 45 or 60 days instead of 30.

From Redditor u/woodymfull:

I make a daily to-do list for each month. For January, I list small tasks like X push-ups, X planks, X Duolingo points. I also set a goal to reach by month's end... For the whole year, I want to stop biting my nails.

From Redditor u/ArrowNG:

Make your resolution involve specific actions (do push-ups and a mile run daily) instead of a vague goal (work out more).