7 Rules to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick

80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by the month of February. Many people start out highly motivated to change their lives starting the new year, yet often don’t achieve these goals. If you want to not only reach your New Years Resolution but make it stick as well, then you’ll need these 7 rules for successful New Year’s Resolutions.

Be Prepared For Failure

It’s funny when you think about it, but we are born with this mindset. You’ve already got it. If you have kids, then you have seen this already. When your kids are learning to walk they fall over all the time. But you never see them say things like:

• “I just suck at this walking thing.”
• “I’ve already tried a lot, but I can’t walk so I’m quitting”

No, instead they get back up and push forward till they are walking. It’s the same with riding a bike, or really anything else in life.

Over time we just become softer and forget who we are. A couple of lost battles turns us from unyielding warriors into soft couch potatoes.

But, wait, there’s good news: you can always tap back into this because it’s always been a part of you. It’s been ingrained in you since birth. Once you recognize that you already have what it takes to succeed you can start progressing.

So, expect to fail because it’s part of learning and growing.

In fact, if you expect failure you will see even more success; because you’re prepared. The better we can expect to experience an obstacle, then the better we can handle it. It’s like handing yourself the answer key to your math tests.

If you know that you have a habit of binging over the weekend AND that it’s against your goal of losing 50 pounds, then you need to have a plan. Otherwise, when the weekends come you’re going to binge, get discouraged, and quit. Now, what are the chances of you reaching your goal?

You can’t expect to just wander into your goal, otherwise, we’d all be supermodels. Be ready to work hard for those New Year’s Resolutions!

Beginner’s Mindset

As people, we often have a preset opinion on certain things. Here are some examples I come across as a personal trainer:

• My metabolism won’t let me lose weight
• Lifting weights will make me bulky
• I already eat perfectly

However, when you have these presumptions they become an excuse and obstacle that keep you from your goals. If you want to lose weight, but you also believe your diet is perfect what room is there for improvement?

Instead, adopt a beginner’s mindset. A beginner’s mindset is when you adopt the mentality that you’re brand new and know nothing about a topic. So, for my new clients, I encourage them to think about diet and exercise as if it’s their first time hearing about it.

By doing this you can shed the very thoughts keeping you from your New Year’s Resolution.

Think About It, Often

The strangest secret in the world is

you become what you think about

Earl Nightingale

If you have a goal then you MUST think about it repeatedly.

Every habit we have originates as a thought. If you follow the process it goes something like: thought > action > habit > your results.

So if you want to lose 50 pounds then you need to be thinking about your goal. Get obsessed. You should think of your goal in every way:

• What do I need to change?
• When I reach my goal what will life be like?
• What am I doing right?
• How do you do this better?

The more that you think about and dream about your goal the more your goal becomes part of you. It becomes part of your identity.

That’s because thoughts become things. Wherever you’re at right now look around. Almost everything you saw was just a thought inside the mind of somebody. They made the immaterial thought into a physical result, and you can too!

By focusing your thoughts on your goal it becomes more of your life. If you think about losing that 50 pounds, then when you are challenged with an obstacle you’ll quickly think about it. When this repeats over and over your brain becomes wired in favor of your goal. “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

Just like we become what we eat our brain becomes what it thinks. So, I suggest keeping a journal so that you can write down your goal daily and make sure that it stays a staple in your daily mental diet.

If you keep your New Year’s Resolution close to your heart and mind it’ll surely stick.

Have a Clear Goal

If you don’t know exactly where you’re going, how will you know when you get there.

Steve Maraboli

Having a clear goal is essential because it connects you to the identity you are trying to assume. People don’t want to get in shape they want to be the person who is in shape. The clearer your goal is the more you can identify it. What would you look like at your goal if it was just “to lose weight” versus what your you look like if you lost 50 pounds?

In order to become the person, you want to be you will have to achieve your New Year’s Resolution. In order for that to happen the resolution must be clear. To just lose weight is very vague and doesn’t have very much feedback. You might have a goal to lose 50 pounds. That is more clear and you know whether or not you are getting closer. And the closer you get to the goal the closer you become to the new identity.

Don’t Rely on Motivation

This is the #1 reason why people fail their New Year’s Resolution. Motivation is not something that is permanent. In fact, it’s the least reliable factor in reaching your goals. Because it comes and goes. If you think that any of us want to wake up and go to the gym every single day, then you’re dreaming. There are many days when I’m not motivated. However, the difference between those who succeed, and those who don’t, is what they do when their motivation runs out.

Those who don’t accomplish their New Year’s Resolution are the people who lack the discipline necessary to achieve their goals. When you run out of motivation you have to do things you don’t want to. That means going to the gym when you’re tired, or you don’t eat that cookie and instead have some whole food.

However, the people that do achieve their New Year’s Resolution have a powerful reason to make it a reality. That powerful reason pushes them to accomplish when they’re not motivated.

So, in order for you to achieve your New Year’s Resolution, you are going to need a strong reason why. It should make you feel emotional. If it doesn’t, then it’s not powerful enough.

You’ll have to quit making excuses and get raw with yourself. You know where you are starting, what you want, and what it takes to get there. Accept change and achieve your dreams!

Never Stop Trying

From the outside, it seems like people become fit or rich overnight, but the truth is the road to success is rarely straight. Like preparing for failure you are going to have to accept the fact that the journey is a rollercoaster of ups and downs. I compare it to working out in the gym: “half your workouts will be great and the other half will suck.” Similarly, some of the times life gets in the way and other times it works in your favor.

So if you’re trying to make a New Year’s Resolution stick, then you will have to accept these facts and be ready. You’ll find the goal is something like 3 steps forward 2 back. For weight loss, you may lose 20 pounds and gain 15 back. Sometimes unexpected things happen in life such as the death of a loved one, divorce, job loss, etc. that can put a hamper on your goals. At this point just getting workouts in can be considered a victory.

Luckily, things will always get better, and when they do you will be able to find your stride in achieving your goals. If you persist when things aren’t perfect, then you will get to shine when the stars align.

In swimming, they have a technique called drafting. It’s when someone swims closely behind someone slightly faster allowing them to coast easily. When life is going right it’s just like drafting. However, when things are all going wrong you’re going to have to work in order to stay above water. To achieve your New Year’s Resolution be ready and expect both scenarios.

Make It Fun

Finally, if it isn’t somehow fun you aren’t going to come back. Make it a competition between a friend with the same goal, or make it a game for yourself.

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