How to keep your New Year’s Resolutions
We make and break new year’s resolutions every year, but how do you pick achievable goals to help get the year off to a good start? We’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks to help you stay accountable and achieve your dreams in 2023. At Lite Mind Body Clinic, we welcome peace, prosperity, and happiness in 2023 and hope to aid in healing twice the number of people we did in 2022! What are your goals for the new year and how can you make sure you achieve them?
Set yourself up for success
Did you know that almost 80% of people who set New Year’s resolutions fail to meet their goals? So, how do you avoid becoming another statistic? For starters, it is helpful to begin any list of resolutions with reflection: looking from the past towards the future. What do you want to bring into your life and what would you like to change? What are the small changes you can make to improve your quality of life? It is important to remain practical. Don’t be hard on yourself - it’s important to remind yourself in these moments why you set your resolutions in the first place and come up with a plan to move forward.
Plan Ahead
Once you’ve decided on your resolutions for the year it’s time to start planning. For example, if you plan to become more active in the new year, what steps will you take to achieve this? This might mean purchasing a gym membership and creating a weekly workout schedule while others might require smaller steps - perhaps starting with a daily walk around the block before slowly increasing physical activity throughout the year. Go at your own pace and remember that even the smallest change in your lifestyle is a big win.
break bad habits
Many New Year’s resolutions focus on breaking bad habits, such as eating less junk food or quitting smoking. While it may seem simple enough, these are often the hardest resolutions to keep because they require changing our daily routine. If you’re planning to break a bad habit in the new year it’s a good idea to break your goal down into three easy steps: trigger, response, and result.
For example:
Bad Habit: Biting nails
Trigger: Stress
Response: Bite nails
Result: Stress relief
Once you’ve broken the habit down, start by replacing the response with something less harmful (i.e. instead of biting your nails for stress relief try a stress ball or fidget spinner to keep your hands occupied).
strength in numbers
When making resolutions it can be helpful to pair up with a significant other or a group of friends. Research shows that group norms can be the most effective tool when it comes to meeting our goals. Having a friend who’s trying to make the same change as you can help to keep you from giving up when the going gets tough. The knowledge that others are keeping track of your resolutions will stop you from quitting early and push you to keep up the hard work till the end of the year.
In Conclusion
Whether you’re hoping to finally achieve a goal or looking to improve your lifestyle, it’s important to set yourself up for success so you can achieve your resolutions and improve your life. Struggling to come up with practical resolutions for this year? Check out the list below for some ideas!
Practice mindfulness: download a mindfulness app or make space for quiet time in your schedule (booking a Lite Detox with us is a great way to schedule some time for quiet reflection).
Prioritize self-care: figure out what your favourite self-care activities are (relaxing bath, nail salon, spa) and have a self-care date with yourself! (we’re always happy to help at the clinic!).
Read more: try to read five more books than you did the previous year.
Plan a trip: even if it’s just a few hours out of the city, give yourself something to look forward to in the future.
Drink lots of water: try buying a water bottle with hourly reminders to improve your hydration.
