80 percent of all New Year’s resolutions fail by February.
But why?
Most of these resolutions fail because people are setting non-specific, unattainable goals. The most important part of setting self-improvement goals for the new year is to keep them realistic.
Here are five tips for how to set goals to make 2019 the best year ever.
1. Get Specific
No matter what your personal development goals are, you need to make the specific enough to be tracked and achieved.
First, think about what you want your goal to be. You can choose anything from individual goals for work, areas of personal development, or even fitness goals.
Start with a broad idea for your goal. Then set a specific, achievable goal, often times called a SMART goal. Create a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
The following is just one of many personal smart goals examples.
Instead of making a fitness goal of getting healthy or losing weight, get specific. Set a goal to work out three times a week and achieve a desired daily caloric intake.
2. Break Your Goal Into Steps
After you get specific with your goal, you should break it down into smaller, simpler steps.
Instead of going all out at once and getting burned out, slowly build up to your end goal.
Try working out once a week until that becomes easy. Then you can move up to two and then three times a week. Once you conquer the working out portion, then you can add on the caloric intake part of your goal.
3. Set a Time Goal
Personal Development Goals are great, but you need to set a time goal to make your goal achievable. If you leave a goal open-ended, you may find yourself pushing your goal off until the next year.
After you come up with your specific goal and break it into steps, get organized and set your time limits. Set a different time goal for each step leading up to your main goal.
For example, aim to drink two glasses of water a day for a solid week within the first month of your goal. When you’ve completed that, then you can move onto drinking three glasses of water a day within the next month.
Continue setting time limits for each goal to hold yourself accountable.
4. Make it Competitive
But you don’t need to be the only one that holds yourself accountable. If you make your goal a competitive with a close friend or family member, it’ll be easier to stay motivated.
Find a friend with a similar or the same goal as yourself. Then be open and honest about your progress. Share your victories and confide in each other about your struggles.
You’ll find the whole process a lot easier with someone by your side.
5. Reward Yourself
While achieving your goal is rewarding in itself, it helps to reward yourself along the way.
For each of your goal steps, choose to reward yourself in a small way. This could include having a splurge meal at your favorite restaurant or trying out a new workout class you’ve been eyeing. It’s important to have something to look forward to at the end of each small goal.
Then set a larger reward for completing your entire goal. If you work out three times a week and limit your daily caloric intake for the whole year, reward yourself with a shopping spree. Odds are, after all the work you’re going to drop a few sizes anyways!
Make Your Self-Improvement Goals a Reality
Using the above steps, you can quickly turn your self-improvement goals into a reality.
Remember to set a specific goal and then break it into smaller steps. The set time goals for yourself and make it a friendly competition with a friend. Don’t forget to reward yourself for all your hard work to stay motivated.
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