With a brand-new decade upon us, the time has come to reflect on where we’ve been and where we want to go. Setting all-encompassing New Year’s resolutions to better ourselves is easy enough, but following through is another ball game entirely. Considering 31% of resolutions are abandoned before January is even over, it’s clear that following the goals we set for ourselves can pose quite a challenge. Before achieving any goals let’s look at some potential New Year’s resolution ideas that may spark some interest for you and after that, we will learn how to achieve them.
10 New Year’s Resolution Ideas
If you need some ideas for a New Year’s resolution here are some that I would suggest:
- Read more books. Many of us get so busy with our careers that we stop reading books. If you want to save time create an audible account and start listening to books on your drives. Here is a list of productivity and financial books that can get you started.
- Learn to cook. As restaurant food becomes more available to us in the luxury of our homes through services such as Uber Eats, the art of cooking is phasing out. Connect with the food you eat and learn just one or two new recipes this upcoming year.
- Save more money. Becoming wealthy is simply increasing your net worth. Sometimes it’s hard to raise your salary, but what you do have under your control is how much you spend. Try saving a bit more and Financial Independence will come knocking on your door before you know it.
- Earn more money. Consider taking that leap and learning how to create a side-job this year. It could be real estate investing, blogging, or learning more about investing. The extra money you create from your side-job could mean a difference of 10+ years of earlier retirement.
- Start a new hobby. What’s something that you have been dying to do. As life gets busier there is never a “good time.” Set aside some time to start something that brings you joy.
- Eat more veggies. I’m a big believer in plant-based diets. I’ve felt my productivity increase dramatically when the ratio of veggies in my diet increases. Try it out for just a week or two and see how it affects you!
- Try out Yoga. Okay, I may be biased but starting yoga has been one of the best things I have ever done in my life. At first, I was very sceptical but after I started doing it I started to see benefits in not just my physical health but also my mental and emotional states. Many yoga studios have a free trial or a nominal trial period. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Don’t feel embarrassed though when you see a yogi 30 years older than you doing handstands as you struggle through your first class.
- Drink more water. Most of us don’t drink nearly as much water as we should. Water is the cheapest and most beneficial fluid we can give our bodies. Cut down on other beverages and drink more water this year.
- Sleep more. Another basic resolution. But prioritizing your sleep can mean the difference of a great next day or a terrible one. Also, I found that when I get at least 6-8 hours of sleep I am much more productive and less grouchy the following day. A really cool item I found to help me get more and better sleep are these Blue Light Blocking Glasses on Amazon. They are only about 20 bucks have worked wonders for my sleep by blocking harmful blue rays that can cause eyestrain, headaches, and reduce the quality of your sleep.
- Create a Productivity System. If you want to be productive you need some type of productivity system that will allow you to create time to do accomplish your New Year’s resolution. We created a simple 12-step process for you to create your own Productivity System Here. Maybe this is the year you will increase your productivity exponentially!
How to Achieve your New Year’s Resolution Goals
Goal- and resolution-setting doesn’t have to be complicated. Setting goals you can follow and achieve doesn’t even have to be hard! There are a variety of simple strategies even the most novice goal-setter can follow that will ensure success every single time that I will go over in this post.
Defining Your Why for your New Year’s Resolution
The first step to achieving any goal you set for yourself is figuring out your why. If you want to be better at saving money, figure out why. Will it get you closer to what you want to achieve in your life such as early retirement, being debt-free, being able to travel whenever you want? No matter your goal, figuring out the driving purpose behind why you’re setting that particular goal for yourself will make every other step easier.
Be Accountable for your Goals
The next step to ensuring you can reach your goals is a simple mind hack that works every time: display your goal where you can see it every day. If your goal is to be a more a responsive friend, post a picture of your friends on your bathroom mirror or make them your background on your work computer. Wherever you will see and be reminded of your goal every day, the better to post.
You can take it a step further hand announce to your close friends or family your anticipated goals. When your goals are public and accountable, you are much more likely to be motivated to achieve them.
Make a manageable New Year’s Resolution List
The next step to take to ensure your goal is met is to break them into smaller, easily managed pieces. Instead of having one huge, over-arching goal that looks impossible to achieve, take the time to break your goal down into easily achieved steps. By assigning yourself an actionable step every day or week to get you closer to your goal, you’re doing yourself a service that will help you get so much closer.
Create a reasonable schedule
It’s much better to “overachieve” small steps than to fail to achieve a single big step. Create a reasonable schedule for you to achieve your small steps and complete these mini-goals.
Plan for hurdles
A good rule of thumb is to give yourself 30-50% more time than you think will be necessary. Especially whenever you are trying to venture into something new. There will always be unforeseeable obstacles. Plan for these and don’t get derailed when they come up!
Be accountable
A great way to be accountable for your goals is to share them with supportive friends or family. Sharing your progress with others can help make you motivated, especially during those times when you are ready to give up.
Forgive yourself
Last and most importantly, have fun and forgive yourself along the way. Creating and maintaining habits and goals can be different for everyone. Take what works for you and have a productive year!
For the rest of the steps to take to achieve any goal you set for yourself, check out the infographic below created by the team at Intuit Mint. Before you know it, you’ll be checking off goals left and right!
I want to thank one of the Physician Zen readers, Emily Borst from Siege Media, who reached out to me after reading my post on Task Batching and asked if I could make this post on goal setting and how to achieve them. She provided me with some ideas the suggested infographic in this post.