New Years Resolution
The countdown begins as everyone is ready to jump into not only the new year but into the new decade. It has been a tradition for many of all ages to set personal goals for their upcoming year. Rather it’s changing a diet or picking up a new hobby. Many follow through with it and some tend to drop it part-way through the year.
Setting goals for yourself is a great way to start the beginning of a new year. Not only do you have a mindset goal, but you push yourself to complete that goal.
“ My goal for 2020 is to be more mindful of others and help when needed,” said Kortney Atherton (11).
“A goal I have set for myself is to learn to paint in hopes [that] it will distract my mind from other distractions or help calm me,” said McKenna Peck (10).
Many set goals to help them break a bad habit that has consumed them, such as electronics. By putting your mind into jogging, painting, or even reading it will help take it away from those distractions and throughout the year, you can see how setting this goal helped improve your mental or physical health.
“My goal for last year was to save more money to buy everyone nice Christmas gifts at the end of the year,” Kourtney Atherton (11) said.
“ When Christmas time came around, I wasn’t scrounging for money,” said Atherton. “And I was able to buy everyone nice gifts for the holiday and it made me feel really good that I completed that goal.”
In the beginning of the year when you set a goal, it can be difficult to keep up it. However, if you stick through that goal and reflect back over the year of how that goal helped you improve as an individual.
“My goal for 2019 was to read more. I kept up with it until March, then I slowly forgot,” said Peck. “When I reflected over my year, I was disappointed in myself that I didn’t follow through with that goal, but this year is going to change.”
Many people tend to let go of their goal halfway through the year because everyone gets caught up in different activities. Therefore when you reflect over your year, you tend to get discouraged and disappointed in yourself cause you know you could have completed it.
However there is still hope! 2020 means clear vision. I encourage you to have a clear vision of what you would like to see yourself improve in this upcoming year and hopefully be able to reflect on it at the end.
5 Ways on How to Stick with Your New Year’s Resolution
The days until Christmas are dwindling, which means that New Year’s is just around the corner. On December 31, many people will be having parties with friends and family. They will stay up until midnight in order to celebrate the upcoming year. New Year’s resolutions are often made on the last day of the year to set goals for people that they want to follow through on for the upcoming year.
Life can get pretty busy, which can make it hard to stick with a New Year’s resolution. The goals made on New Year’s Eve may be followed for a certain amount of time, but more likely than not, they are often forgotten.
“One of my New Year’s resolutions was to be more motivated and get on top of things,” said Kortney Atherton (10). “This was really hard to keep because I procrastinate a lot, and I have so many things to do at one time.”
When people do not follow through with their goals, they get into a mindset of stopping their New Year’s resolution.
“My resolution in the past was learning how to cook,” said Ayla Maun (9). “It’s been an on and off thing like sometimes I would want to cook all the time, and other times I just don’t care.”
One thing that people wish they can do is to go back in time to a certain event and change the outcome of it. When it comes to past New Year’s resolutions, people can learn from their mistakes and try to do better in the future.
“If I were to go back in time, I would take it more seriously and try harder to keep my priorities straight,” said Atherton. “I would also try to be more organized with what needs to be done and not let myself brush things off until the last minute.”
People tend to have a lot on their plate with school or work throughout the year. With that being said, it can be hard for people to accomplish their New Year’s resolutions.
“Most of the challenge is just being consistent and not getting lazy,” said Maun. “I would get distracted, and then I won’t focus on my goals like I’m supposed to.”
Resolutions that were made in the past might not have been fulfilled, but a couple of tips could help you to accomplish your objectives.
1. Make Small Goals
Instead of going all out and making big plans, try and be realistic. If you feel that you will not be able to stick with your goal, then try to start small. Once you can do the small goals, then you can move up to more complex goals that could eventually lead you up to your ultimate goal.
“If your New Year’s resolution was important for you to make it a goal, then it is probably important enough for you to follow through with it,” said Maun.
2. Make an Outline of Your Goal
Making an outline can help keep you on track of your goal. One thing that you can do is try to make some time in your schedule to work on your New Year’s resolution. When making an outline, you can plan out how much time you will work on your objective. This technique helps you to stay organized and focused on what you need to accomplish.
3. Get Other People Involved
Doing things by yourself can be challenging because there is no one to make sure that you follow your New Year’s resolution. With a friend, you can help motivate each other.
“Friends will be there to tell you to keep going when you feel like giving up, and you can do the same for them,” said Atherton. “I feel that it would work so much better with the support from each other.”
4. Reward Yourself
Sometimes people do not feel like doing anything but sitting down and watching TV. By putting the temptations aside for 15 to 20 minutes, you can reward yourself after you attempted to pursue your New Year’s resolution. At the end of the day, you can feel great about your success and still have time for yourself.
5. Always Have Confidence
Confidence plays a big role in this because as you keep putting yourself down, then chances are you will not want to pick back up with your goal. The whole purpose of New Year’s resolutions is to challenge yourself. If you stay positive, then this helps serve as adrenaline to keep on pursuing your goals.
“Don’t give up and stick with your resolution even though you might want to,” said Atherton. “Don’t tell yourself that you can’t do it. Some New Year’s resolutions can really change your life for the better if you stick with them.”
More times than not, people tend to not follow through on their new year’s resolutions. These tips might be able to help you to stick with your objectives for a longer period of time. New Year’s resolutions can be considered as a challenge, but if enough effort is put into them, they could be considered as accomplishments.
