Anymore, it's an expectation: New Year's Day rolls around and a laundry list of resolutions lies before us. Gym membership and self-help book sales skyrocket. The revelry of the holidays gives way to Dry January, "clean" meal planning, and the next best diet. Entrepreneurs recommit to the hustle. A growth mindset is on the tip of everyone's tongue. It seems that everyone is looking to fix, improve, and ascend the latter of some self-determined actualization or another.
But, what separates those who succeed in these changes from those who don't? Is it merely a question of personality or willpower? It might first make sense to understand what motivation actually is. According to Psychology Today, "Motivation is the desire to act in service of a goal. It's the crucial element in setting and attaining our objectives." Motivation can be impacted by how much you want the desired result, what you will gain by attaining it, what you will lose if you don't, and your expectations. These factors all play into your odds of realizing any given goal. And, while there's no one-size-fits-all answer to successfully building new habits and breaking the bad, there are some tried and true motivational tenets to give yourself a fighting chance.
Set realistic, achievable goals:
It may seem simpler to just overhaul everything that's not working for you all at once, but your odds of success are greatly improved by choosing one realistic, achievable goal and singularly focusing your energy on it. Experts generally agree that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit and months for it to feel normal and automatic. As they say, change doesn't happen overnight, but it will happen.
Outline your intentions and plan ahead:
Think about your goal well in advance of establishing it. So, if New Year's Day is your D-Day, then consider all of the factors that shape your intentions during the weeks leading up to January 1. How can you assimilate your goal into your daily routine? What barriers might you encounter and how can you address them? Outline how you intend to implement your goal, breaking any major changes into smaller, achievable pieces and assigning a timeline to each step.
Share your plan:
Let your friends, family, and other supports in on your plan and harness their support to help keep you motivated and honest. Your support system can be an integral factor for success when your New Year's resolution loses its shiny new penny luster mid-February. Maybe you'll even acquire a resolution partner or mentor in the process.
Celebrate the hits and let go of the misses:
No resolution goes 100 percent perfect, 100 percent of the time. Celebrate your daily commitment to re-engage your resolution and the milestones as they arise along the way. If you stumble in your diet, miss a workout, self-sabotage, or revert to old habits, acknowledge that it happened, attempt to determine what catalyzed it, accept that you're not perfect, and move on. Positive self-talk and mindfulness exercises are also great tools to re-center and re-commit. Mistakes and bad days are all a part of the process.
Keep a record:
It's helpful to keep a record of your milestones. Give yourself a literal gold star for every day or week you remain committed. Come up with a reward system for wins. Create short-term goals to stay motivated and excited about your progress.
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