Opinion: Making New Year’s resolutions that stick for 2019

Like many, I convince myself each year to set a goal on New Year’s, and each year I miserably fail to achieve it.

For the past few years, I’ve told myself I would exercise more often, learn American Sign Language, focus on self-care and not miss a single day of school. Unfortunately, none of these promises were kept.

I’m not alone in that. 80 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail by the second week of February, according to U.S. News Health.

For 2019, I decided to try and find ways to help us all make New Year’s resolutions that stick.

To start off, it’s important to make sure your resolutions aren’t too broad. For example, telling yourself that you’re going to save money or burn more calories leaves a lot of wiggle room. Maybe set a weekly budget or plan to run a 5K instead.

Keep it simple, small and specific.

Meditate every morning. Get seven hours of sleep each night. Exercise twice a week. Read 10 books. These resolutions are easy to keep track of and work on throughout the year.

Along the same lines, try setting just one goal for the new year. Replacing a bad habit or unhealthy behavior takes time and attention, and sometimes creating too many resolutions makes it hard to achieve any of them.

Once you’ve made resolutions, you may be more successful in keeping them if you share them with loved ones who can offer support and accountability, according to the American Psychological Association.

Most importantly, don’t give up or beat yourself up if you break your resolution. No one is perfect and slip-ups happen to the best of us. That doesn’t make your goal unattainable or mean that you’re a failure.

Pick yourself back up and start again! It’s all about progress. – –

This article written by Katie McAdams.