Start the New Year Strong

I am big on New Year’s goals but I think that’s because I am big on goals in general and love any opportunity to set a new one! Setting goals is a great way to stay motivated, trigger new habits and gain momentum in life. As much as I love setting goals, I know I’m not alone in setting New Year goals and falling flat on my face about two weeks in when I’m no longer interested in being “that girl”. Well, today I am giving you 4 tips to avoid falling victim to that new year's failure and to help you achieve your goals coming into the new year!

Set a specific goal

Vague goals have vague plans of action and this is a major reason why many of us fail to stick with our New Year's Resolution. For example, “I want to have healthier habits in 2023” is incredibly vague but has a great sentiment. So let’s get specific with that goal! How about, “I want to wake up without hitting the snooze, work out every weekday morning, eat clean 80% of the time, and stick to my nighttime skin care routine.” Each of those statements combined make up the one vague statement about having healthier habits. The benefit to having specifics is that they are measurable and can be broken down by action items that will help set you up for success on achieving each of them.

Develop a plan

So now that we’ve broken down our big goal into measurable achievements, it’s time to set a plan. This is where you can use a journal or even the PDF attached on this blog post for download to break down the goals into action items. With these four specific examples given above, a common denominator in three of them revolves around going to bed and waking up. So for example, if you want to wake up without hitting your snooze button, that can be broken down into three habits to focus on.

Get to bed 8 hours before it’s time to wake up
Set your phone on the other side of the room
Have a no-phone nighttime routine 30 min before bed.

Talk about it

This one comes down to accountability! You have to be willing to be seen setting and attempting to achieve your goal. If you have an accountability partner who is also in pursuit of a goal - even better! You guys can do a daily check-in with each other, discuss progress or roadblocks and work together to find solutions. If you don’t have someone in person, social media is a great tool to hold yourself accountable. Sharing about your experience, the triumphs and the struggles is a healthy way to keep yourself motivated and on track!

Choose the right goal

This may be the most important one. I wouldn’t recommend picking a goal that isn’t measurable but I also wouldn’t recommend picking a goal that is almost impossible to achieve. Does this goal make sense for me and my lifestyle? Do I have the capacity to put in the effort it will require to achieve this goal? Choosing a goal that isn’t just pass or fail. So if you miss out on achieving your smaller goals that help you achieve your big goal, it doesn’t mean you lost out and there’s no point in trying again tomorrow. The whole point of a New Year's Resolution is to become a better version of yourself. So if you fail today, get back into it tomorrow knowing it’s never too late to achieve what it is you are striving for.

I hope you guys are feeling inspired to stick to these New Year's Resolutions like never before. My goals are mostly about building healthy habits around health, fitness and money heading into the first few months of 2023. I’m excited to share more about that with you guys as time passes.

Check out the two PDF’s I created to help you guys stay on track heading into the New Year!

One is for goal setting and the other is a self-care checklist! Enjoy and happy goal setting!