New Year's Resolutions
New Year's resolutions
If your New Year's resolutions from last year have gone unresolved, you're not alone. Now a New Year offers another opportunity to achieve your goals, and these nine tips should help you keep to your New Year's resolutions.
1. Make it something you really want. Don't make it a resolution that you "should" want or what other people tell you to want. It has to fit with your own values.
2. Limit your list to a number you can handle. It's probably best to make two or three resolutions that you intend to keep. That way, you're focusing your efforts on the goals you truly want.
3. Be specific. To be effective, resolutions and goals need to be pretty specific.
4. Automate. Automating financial goals can maximize your odds for success without you having to do anything.
If your goal is to save money this year, calculate an amount out of each monthly pay, then arrange to have it automatically deposited into your savings account each time you get paid
5. Make a plan. Rather than stating one daunting goal, create a series of smaller steps to reach it. Have an action plan. Figure out exactly what you want to do.
6. Be prepared to change some habits. One reason that resolutions fail is people don't change the habits that sabotage them. It takes time to change a habit. Research States that it takes 21 days to change a habit. So stick with it. It will be worth it in the end.
7. Write down the goal and visualize it regularly. Writing and visualizing are effective tools for fulfilling a goal because they fix it firmly in the subconscious.
And if you write down your goals, put them in a prominent place where you'll view them frequently, such as on the fridge or on your desk.
8. To tell or not to tell? Having someone hold you accountable can be a powerful tool. In general, making a public commitment adds motivation.
9. Forgive yourself. If you fall off the wagon, jump back on. Many people fall into the trap of believing that if they stumble, they should give up. You can do it.