Were your holidays spent shopping, eating treats, and indulging in other pleasures with the secret affirmation to yourself the new year and new goals are coming? Now that the holidays are over, have you set a New Year’s Resolution? Some goal you hope to attain during 2018? If so, you’re not alone. Statistics show about 41% of all Americans make a New Year’s Resolution.

The most common resolutions made by Americans involve some sort of self-improvement: education related ambitions, weight loss, financial goals, or relationship related resolutions. Unfortunately, studies also relay how about 80% of those resolutions fail by the first week of February. If you’ve set a resolution for 2018, make sure you’ve set yourself up for success by avoiding the mistakes below and using these helpful guidelines to direct your goals.

3 Reasons Resolutions Fail so Often

The first step in setting yourself up for success is to avoid the sand traps. Here are common reasons resolutions fail.

#1. You weren’t specific.

Perhaps your goal wasn’t met because it was too vague. Simply saying you’d like to lose weight or reduce stress isn’t enough. What did you actually mean by this? How many pounds did you hope to shed? How did you measure stress level improvements? If you didn’t set a specific goal, you didn’t really have an endgame in sight and it’s probably why you quit.

#2. You didn’t plan.

It’s great to say you wanted to pay off a certain amount of debt. But, how did you go about doing that? Without creating a plan to pay off that debt with a specific breakdown of how much per month you didn’t make this an attainable goal and likely threw in the towel before the finish line.

#3. You didn’t have accountability.

Did you share your ambitions with a friend or trusted audience? If not, who was there to hold you accountable and cheer you on when your will power was low? Without someone to help you stick to your commitments, you found it easier to justify quitting.

5 Tips to Set Yourself Up for Success with Resolutions

If you related to any of the reasons above, don’t worry! Creating and sticking to resolutions is doing if you follow a few helpful guidelines that start you in the direction of success.

#1. Create SMART goals.

An acronym used for managing business goals, getting SMART about your goals forces you to put more thought and energy into your resolutions than simply rattling off a superficial goal. The idea of SMART goals is they should be:

Specific | Measurable | Attainable | Relevant | Time-bound

Being specific goes back to our failed reason #1 about not being vague. Instead of saying you want to lose weight, decide on a specific number or percentage of pounds for each month. This lends itself to a measurable goal. Similarly if you say you want to vacation more, quantify it. How many vacations and when? Be realistic in these specific measurements so as to make it attainable. Saying you want to work out 20 hours a week is likely unrealistic. Choose a relevant goal. If you’re passionate and serious about it, you’ll stick with it. Finally, set a deadline for yourself. 2018 is only twelve months long, and you don’t want to be in the same place twelve months from now.

#2. Create a detailed plan.

Take a look at previous resolutions. Did you meet them? What timeline and measurable changes do you need to make this time in order to plan better? Take the time to write out your goals. Draft a detailed plan on how to reach them. How will you lose 25 pounds this year? Decide on specific changes to your diet and exercise regiment.

Put your resolution deadlines on your calendar. It may be meal planning for each week or scheduling fitness classes. Scheduling out activities that lend to the success of your goals keeps you focused and fixes it to where you know exactly where you should be and by when. If you get off course, sit down with your calendar and adjust accordingly. If you can meet business goals for the boss, you can meet resolutions for yourself. Treat your goals with the same dedicated planning and management as you do other tasks.

#3. Shift your mindset to what you CAN do.

There’s no need to be negative about our goals. Instead of setting your resolutions up like a prison with a bunch of “I can’ts,” try reframing your goals to stuff you can enjoy. For example, instead of saying, “I can’t have desserts,” reframe it to, “I’m going to enjoy fresh fruits for dessert.” This way you won’t obsess over what you “can’t” have and instead delight in the things you “can” do. Basically, set yourself up for success by cultivating a positive attitude.

#4. Use the snowball effect.

Dave Ramsey teaches a snowball effect for debt where paying off the small debts snowballs and builds momentum for paying off those larger ones. Mimic this idea by starting small in your own resolutions. If you’re dieting, start by replacing soft drinks with water first. Then build up to carb management and processed sugar elimination. If fitness is your goal, start with running 5K’s, then 10K’s, and eventually half or full marathons. Start small and snowball momentum for bigger goals. Success in each small step will build our confidence to believe you can really achieve your goals!

#5. Recruit accountability.

As we previously touched on, accountability can help make or break a resolution. Tell those you’re in contact with regularly about your resolution so they can help cheer you on and keep you rooted. If you’re comfortable doing so, start a blog about your resolution journey. Followers of the blog can motivate you to keep going. You may even inspire others to make changes too.

Show Yourself Some Grace

True January 1st marks a new beginning, but so does each new sunrise. If you get off track with your goals, you can always begin again each day. Reaching your ambitions requires a continued effort that isn’t always fun, but continued, focused effort is how change happens. Small changes product big growth over time, and we’ve got to have grace with ourselves and allow that passing of time – showing patience in waiting and patience with our stumbling.

Don’t beat yourself up if you fail. Too often we feel we let ourselves down when we don’t reach our goals. This results in internalizing a sense of worthlessness. Such feelings could not be further from the truth. You always have worth. If you feel like you’ve failed, you don’t have to stay there. Pick back up, examine your goals for attainability, and start back at it again.

And Finally…What We Think is the Best Resolution for 2018

While self improvement goals and other such ambitions are great, the most impactful resolution you could make is to mend any wounded or broken relationships. Identify those relationships in your life that could use work, love, and time. Then, commit to reconcile and restore those relationships. No one has ever been disappointed by reconnecting with a loved one.

For help setting and achieving any of your goals – especially on relationships– talk to your pastor, join a small group at church, of find a faith based counselor to walk you through the process. 2018 is here and it’s time to start mending!

-Joel Walton