How to Set New Year Resolutions You Can Keep

It’s that time again to think about your new year resolution.

Top 3 Tips on How to Set Your Resolutions

• Make your resolutions SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
• Expect a minimum of 21 days to an average of 66 days to accomplish a new habit.
• Think of reasons why your goal is a MUST.

Plan SMART

Goals that succeed and turn into reality have five attributes in common.

Specific

Be specific about your goals. Here are some examples of goals that are 94% likely to fail;

• Lose weight
• Start a business
• Invest

These goals have a much better chance of succeeding;

• Lose 10 pounds within 30 days starting today.
• Open a second mobile coffee shop in Franklin, Tennessee, by the end of the first quarter.
• Invest 10% of your income in cryptocurrency on the 15th of each month.

Measurable

It’s a good idea to track your current status, goal, and progress. Depending on your goal type, you need to track it by hand or with an app.

Achievable

Do yourself a favor and take on an attainable goal. After tackling that, you can always move it up to the next level. You don’t want to set a goal so high that it’s impossible to achieve. This will cause you to become discouraged and quit altogether.

Relevant

Why are you choosing the goal in the first place? Is it a dream you’ve always had? Does it relate to your skill set? Will it help your current situation? Or is it something popular you saw online? Is it trending? Trending goals may not be a wise choice for you. It might seem shiny but not be a good fit.

Time-Bound

This may seem obvious, but many people set a goal with no deadline. This means there is zero accountability. A deadline is the first line of accountability. The second is having people know about your plan. The third would be to appoint a coach, friend, or family to check in on your progress frequently.

 

Before you write up your goals, take a minute to reflect on the past year’s goals. Make a list of what failed to be completed and what succeeded. Ask yourself about the reasons for both. This will help you realize what is important to you and what to spend less time doing moving forward.

Remember, we’re all given 24 hours each day. We determine what’s important enough to spend time on. Time is your most valuable commodity. Whether you realize it or not, you choose what you spend your time doing.

How long does it take to establish a new habit?

According to common scientific studies, forming a new habit takes between 21 and 66 days.

One often-cited study (Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts, & Wardle, 2010) indicated an average of 66 days to establish a new pro-health habit, such as exercising for at least 30 minutes per day.

The shorter 21-day habit formation originates with Dr. Maltz, who published “Psycho-Cybernetics” in 1960. In it, he states, “These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.”

66 Day Average

More recently, a researcher named Phillippa Lally of the University College London published a study that concluded it takes between 18 and 254 days, 66 days on average, to establish a new habit. Keep in mind this study had only 96 participants. The 66-day average cannot be confirmed based on such a small study.

Dr. Maltz’s study was based on how long the human brain accepted a significant uncontrollable physical change, such as getting used to a lost limb. Lally’s study was based on new habits of choice, such as creating a new workout routine.

The fewer choices the brain has, the quicker it adopts the new habit. This would lead to the assumption that the more you tell your brain there is no way out of the new routine, the quicker it will adapt. Environmental support for the new practice would need to follow this no-way-out communication to the brain. For example, if you decide not to buy cigarettes, you support the idea that you no longer smoke cigarettes.

Another study shows that approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals (58.9% vs. 47.1%).

 

Is one of your new years goals to buy or sell property? If so, we’d love to help you! Give us a call or request an appointment.