New year’s resolutions don’t have to be tedious

It sounds so boring. Lose weight, exercise more, learn a new language–whatever your resolution(s), once made the idea often doesn’t sound as enticing as it may have at 11:30pm on December 31 after a few glasses of champagne.

I have found a couple things that worked for me last year, which was the first year I ever completed (let alone remembered) a #resolution. A whole list, actually.

First, and probably most obvious, I told good friends about my list. This way, they weren’t just promises I made to myself or empty goals; if I didn’t work on them and complete at least some of them, I would feel bad.

Second, I made a list. Ok, maybe that should be number one, but that’s beside the point. I didn’t just give myself one goal. I gave myself over half a dozen, which caused my #competitive self to try to “win” in a contest with…myself. It sounds contradictory, but it worked much better than any single resolution has in the past 35 years.

This year, I’m adding a third step to the plan: Find a #resolutionbuddy If you can find someone else who needs some #motivation, partner up. Share your goal(s) with each other, and become a taskmaster. You push and encourage them, & they do the same for you. This shares the responsibility and provides a support system for sticking with it.

Now, these tips aren’t solely for new year’s resolutions. You could decide in May that you want to accomplish X things in Y amount of time. The same principles apply.

Find some way to make yourself feel accountable, challenge yourself, and find a support system to keep you on track. 🙂