The most common time for people to bring changes in their personal lives is during a new year. New Year’s resolution is a personal commitment to improving one’s life. The main reason why it is hard to stick with a New Year’s resolution is that people are not realistic about setting their goals. With this guide, you will be able to set realistic goals that work for your personal and professional life and be able to achieve them.

1. Small Changes, Big impact 

If you’re looking lead a healthy lifestyle or exercising more, you need to take a slower approach that emphasizes taking a small step at a time. Starting small will have a big impact if you follow the habit consistently. For example, if you are not a regular jogger, it will be extremely challenging to begin jogging every single day for one year. Instead of jogging every day, start by jogging once a week over a short distance. Then slowly increase your frequency and distance as your endurance increases. By being consistent, you will notice changes and it will surely he have a big impact over one year.

2.    Be Specific

Not being specific in goal setting is yet another common pitfall. If you want to be successful in achieving your New Year’s resolutions, you need to be accurate in terms of numbers. Still using the jogger example, instead of simply saying you will jog daily, aim to jog 5km daily, 20km weekly or 40km monthly. This will not only help you visualize your goal, but it will also help you track your progress. Tracking is an excellent motivator on its own.

3.    Replace Old Habits with New Ones

According to behavioural analysts, the best way to stop an old habit is to replace it with a new one. Habits are easy to learn but hard to break from. They usually work with triggers. To better understand your triggers, look into the activities, people, or environment around you whenever you make the habit. You will notice a pattern. That pattern will help you discover what your triggers are. For example, if you see you eat a lot of unhealthy snacks while watching a football match with friends, you can replace that habit by having healthy snacks around whenever your friends are coming over to watch a game. Healthy eating is a great way to kick start your new year. If you’re searching for self-help books to bring changes to your lifestyle this new year, The Works is a perfect place where you will find over 400 health and wellbeing books, fitness books, and all the things you need to kick-start towards New Year New You resolution goal.

4. Write it down and keep it in Sight

When you have decided what your resolutions will be, write them down and pin it to your wall. By looking at it every day, your mind will find ways to help you achieve your goals. It serves as a daily reminder and guide.

Sticking with your New Year’s resolution is easy. All you have to do is start small, be realistic, be specific, and track it. Find out your old habit triggers and replace the habit with a new one. And, don’t forget to set a daily reminder to motivate you.