Make this the year you feel accomplished!
Be realistic with yourself when setting your resolutions.
When creating goals, don't set yourself up for failure. In an article called 10 Tricks for Setting – and Sticking to – Your Health New Year's Resolution for EveryDayHealth.com, writer Denise Austin says that it's important to give yourself "enough time and resources to accomplish your resolution," instead of picking something that is unattainable or unhealthy.
For example: Vowing to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. That resolution is totally arbitrary, incredibly difficult, definitely unhealthy for most people... and you're setting yourself up for both failure and misery. A much better option would be to focus on healthy-living goals that are reasonable and realistic and not tied to a specific number on the scale or timeframe.
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Keep it simple.
Mary Jo Rapini, a licensed professional counselor and psychotherapist, tells BuzzFeed: "You can adapt one new habit, but working on five is going to become overwhelming, and you will be more likely to give up mid-January." So yeah, you wanna quit smoking, learn to run, get more sleep, and learn to cook... but maybe pick one that you want the most, you know? That way you can devote your energy to it and be more likely to succeed.
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Make specific and challenging goals, rather than broad or easy ones.
"Failure begins with vague or weak goals," Michael Kitchens, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College, tells BuzzFeed in an email. So be specific! And make it something that you're going to have to work for a bit.
"People who set high goals tend to accomplish more, but this does not mean that your goals should be unrealistic,” Kitchens says. “This simply means that setting an unreasonably low goal provides little motivation to reach your goal. Set a goal that is challenging, but manageable. That sensitive balance really can only be made by each person.”
For example: Instead of saying that you "want to lose weight," try saying that you're going to get half an hour of exercise at least three days a week. Something specific, so that you know exactly what you need to do to accomplish it.
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Start taking action toward your goals instead of spending too much time in your head.
Wishful thinking doesn't get you very far. You have to pick a goal that you really, truly care about... and then do it.
New York's Science of Us blog recently ran a story called Your Positive Thinking Could Be Holding You Back, which was an excerpt from Gabriele Oettingen's book RETHINKING POSITIVE THINKING: Inside the New Science of Motivation (Current Hardcover, 2014). In the Science of Us piece, Oettingen, a professor of psychology at NYU and the University of Hamburg, writes: "Conventional wisdom in psychology and self-help literature was wrong: positive thinking wasn't always helpful."
She goes on to warn about the trap you might fall into when it comes to positive thinking: "Yes, sometimes it did help, but when it came in the form of a free-flowing dream – as so much positive thinking does – it impeded people in the long term from moving ahead. People were quite literally dreaming themselves to a standstill."
However, you can use all that "wishful thinking" energy and turn it into "doing" energy by picking a goal that's near to your heart.
"Wanting to do something provides the energy to motivate you – you won't feel tired or overwhelmed, because desire gives energy and purpose," Los Angeles-based psychologist Jeanette Raymond, Ph.D., tells BuzzFeed in an email.
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