{"id":13186,"date":"2014-12-29T08:30:30","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T16:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145696.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=13186"},"modified":"2014-12-29T08:32:34","modified_gmt":"2014-12-29T16:32:34","slug":"new-years-resolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/articles\/new-years-resolutions\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year’s Resolutions: How to Make Them Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s that time of year. Have your resolutions ready?<\/p>\n

A lot of pressure can be put on making and keeping New Year’s resolutions. They have to be important, yet doable. Meaningful, but not over the top.<\/p>\n

No worries. 2015 is going to be your best year yet! Check out the following tips on setting and sticking with your resolutions this year.<\/p>\n

Making New Year’s Resolutions that Stick<\/h2>\n

by Becky Striepe<\/a> at Vibrant Wellness Journal<\/p>\n

\"Smart<\/a>Coming up with doable new year\u2019s resolutions can be kind of tricky. And sticking with them is even tougher. Most of us ditch our new year\u2019s resolutions<\/a> by mid-February, and I think that\u2019s because we tend to over commit. For a long time I was staunchly anti-new year\u2019s resolution, but I think that with some introspection we really can choose new year\u2019s resolutions and make them stick.<\/p>\n

So, how do we do that? Hatch a plan. With incremental steps that we can really stick to. Saying \u201cI\u2019m going to lose weight this year\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m going to stop multitasking<\/a>\u201d feels too broad. But what if we broke those good ideas down into doable steps?<\/p>\n

I think that sometimes we look at new year\u2019s resolutions not as a chance to change a habit but as a way to chastise ourselves for something we see as a flaw. We make these proclamations from a place of guilt. Instead of resolutions, let\u2019s set goals for the new year!<\/p>\n

Back when I had a corporate job, the company I worked for was big on classes for employees. It was one of the few things that I loved about working where I did. You could sign up for classes on everything from Photoshop to dealing with difficult people to setting smart goals. The smart goals glass changed how I thought about tackling big tasks, and I think the lessons there apply beautifully to new year\u2019s resolutions.<\/p>\n

Basically, the instructor talked about setting SMART goals<\/a>: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, and Timely.<\/p>\n

Making SMART New Year\u2019s Resolutions<\/h3>\n

If you think of new year\u2019s resolutions as goals, you can use the SMART formula to create a plan. So, let\u2019s break down \u201cI\u2019m going to lose weight\u201d into a SMART goal<\/p>\n

Specific<\/strong> \u2013 Instead of saying \u201cI\u2019m going to lose weight,\u201d let\u2019s get specific. Maybe you want to lose 10 pounds. Maybe you want to fit into your favorite pair of skinny jeans<\/a> again. You want something that you can truly check off when you\u2019ve achieved it.<\/p>\n

Measurable<\/strong> \u2013 Making new year\u2019s resolutions that are measurable means that you can break them down into smaller pieces. If you decide that you\u2019re going to lose 10 pounds, you can easily mark your progress on the scale and make sure you\u2019re on track.<\/p>\n

Achievable<\/strong> \u2013 Set yourself up to succeed. Don\u2019t resolve to lose 150 pounds, even if that\u2019s what you\u2019d really like to eventually do. You can always set another goal later on. I think this is the component that a lot of our new year\u2019s resolutions are most strongly lacking. I\u2019m all for aiming high, but sticking with an achievable goal puts you on track to achieve it.<\/p>\n

Results-focused<\/strong> \u2013 It might be trite, but keeping your eye on the prize really does work. There\u2019s even science backing that up<\/a>. It\u2019s easy to get discouraged when you feel like you\u2019re off track, and that doesn\u2019t help you reach your overall resolution. If you\u2019re trying to lose weight, for example, don\u2019t get bummed if the numbers on the scale go up and down a bit. Stay oriented on the overall goal, and you\u2019ll be able to take pitfalls in stride.<\/p>\n

Timely<\/strong> \u2013 Say when, and choose your time frame thoughtfully. Losing 10 pounds by January 10th isn\u2019t realistic. Doing it by March 10th certainly is<\/a>. Setting a time frame for your new year\u2019s resolutions forces you to think about the steps you need to take to get there and when those things need to happen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Top image by Shutterstock<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have your New Year’s resolutions all ready to go? Find out how to make them stick this year. More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":13187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[661,1912],"tags":[8630,5321,6862,5336,8631],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/NewYearsRezbyShutterstock.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}