Bree-Anna Burick Dec 30, 2023 8 min read

Worthy Tips on Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolution

Let’s skip over the part where we commiserate about the fact that, each and every year, we make new year’s resolutions and never keep them. Let’s throw all those notions out the window because this year will be different.

With baby bites and little leaps, we’ll design a plan, embrace it, track it, and watch our lives evolve into something beautiful.

Enjoy these tangible tips on sticking to your new year’s resolution and watch the end result spring to life. If you’re serious about getting serious, then the future is yours for the taking.

Start With Your Why

Sometimes, we know we should lose weight, spend less money, or spend more time with family. That’s a starting point. Usually, we have a sense where change needs to happen.

But, if we don’t pinpoint the “why,” it may always linger as a coulda, shoulda, woulda.

Why do we need to lose weight? To be more heart healthy? To take better care of our joints? To fit into all those beautiful clothes hanging in our closet?

When we understand our why, it becomes the driving force behind what we do and why we do it. It roots a deeper sense of drive and purpose into all the tangible efforts we’re making to achieve a certain goal.

If you can really pinpoint the why and keep that in the forefront of your mind, you’re far more likely to make your new year’s resolutions stick.

Post Reminders Everywhere

If you like to journal, use your washi tape to attach inspirational photos. If you’re always in the kitchen, hang an image, quote, or reminder on the fridge. If you’re always at your desk, do the same.

Sticking with the weight loss theme, you can pin a picture of when you were thin on the bathroom mirror or fridge. Or, pin a picture of that dress you bought that you can’t fit into yet; you can also hang the actual dress on the outside of your closet door.

If you’re saving for a big trip in the new year, create a Pinterest board with photos and travel tips. Scroll through it in the evenings while you’re winding down for the night.

The next time you’re torn between a week’s worth of Starbucks vs. a delectable meal at a famous restaurant in France, you might skip the Starbucks and contribute to your travel fund, instead.

Give Yourself No Choice

One of the top barristers in England and Wales runs a successful YouTube channel where he doles out useful advice on how to be successful – in business, finance, and life.

His lifelong motto is, “Give yourself no choice.” The saying is even woven into his black belt. He says it guides him in everything he does and, as a result, when he takes on a new project or venture, he finishes it.

He’s worked as a professional violinist, entrepreneur, and barrister. He’s held a black belt for nearly two decades. He appears to have a loving and stable marriage, as well as a successful son who’s following in his footsteps.

Of course, no life is perfect and he’s bound to make mistakes himself, but the important point is that he finishes what he starts.

Returning to the theme of a healthy lifestyle, if that’s your new year's resolution, give yourself no choice between a bagel and a vegetable omelet. If you want to lead a more active lifestyle, give yourself no choice between a Netflix marathon and an evening walk.

It’s an interesting concept that may help you keep your new year’s resolutions.

Make a Plan

Do war generals embark on serious missions without a battle plan? They need to know their point of entry, the entire strategy, and each person’s whereabouts at any given time. If they don't, lives will be on the line.

A well-defined battle plan is the only way to ensure success. Draft a weekly schedule, formed entirely around your new year’s resolution. And when you say you’re going to go for a walk after work on Mondays, give yourself no choice.

Invest in a bullet journal. Instead of lined pages, they have gridlines, making them great for checklists and calendar pages.

Lay out your week, to the hour, and shoot for the stars. If you say you’re going to wake up an hour earlier each morning to journal, read, pray, meditate, or reflect, then do so.

Write it down in your bullet journal and check off your progress each and every day.

Reinforce Your Dreams

Read books about forming new habits. Watch encouraging YouTube videos. There’s a YouTube channel called The Daily Stoic with over a million and a half subscribers that talks a lot about the lives of the stoics. It’s all about habits, regimes, and a well-balanced life.

There are also a host of books out there on the market designed to encourage people to make and keep resolutions, which become habits, which become lifestyles.

Some of the most popular picks include:

Atomic Habits
The Power of Habit
Master Your Emotions
The Science of Self-Discipline
Elastic Habits

Many of these best sellers also have workbooks if you enjoy the feeling of being a lifelong learner. And any one of them could be essential in making your new year’s resolutions stick.

Check In With Yourself

Check in with yourself – every day. Yes, every day.

Again, consider keeping a journal or a day planner. If that’s not your style, then use your Google calendar or Notes app on your phone.

The point is, it’s important to check in with yourself to see whether or not you’re sticking to your goals.

If you don’t, then they will quickly evaporate, just like all your hopes and dreams to fit back into that little red dress.

Avoid Potholes

If weight loss is your goal, do you think you should go out to eat with friends three nights a week?

If you’d like to cut back on your drinking to improve your skin or reduce your sugar intake, do you think you should invite coworkers out for happy hour all the time or plan regular weekend house parties?

Balance is key, as with anything. So, you should absolutely enjoy those meals out from time to time. But, if you know you have certain triggers, do your best to avoid them.

It’s okay to be honest with your friends, too. Tell them your goals.

In a way, it’ll help keep you accountable. It doesn’t matter what they actually think of your plan; you’re doing this for yourself. But, if you’re clear about why your behaviors are changing, it often makes the road less rocky.

Be Gentle With Yourself

We know we’re not supposed to give ourselves the option of saying no. That should definitely be the rule of thumb.

Still, we’re only humans. Very few of us are black belts, professional violinists, entrepreneurs, and barristers all in one life – and that’s okay!

If, for example, you end up a half a pint into Ben and Jerry’s one night, don’t go off the deep end. If you haven’t checked any one of those exercise boxes in your bullet journal, don’t commiserate with a bottle of Cabernet.

Change is a process. We have to leave room for forgiveness. And, when we’re really committed, there can be joy in the journey. Give yourself some grace if you go off the rails one weekend.

Life is a long and storied road. It’s okay to adhere to the ol’ cliché about getting back on the horse. If you ate that cake when you were committing to a sugar-free lifestyle, that’s okay. The world won’t stop turning with that first bite.

Recommit to your goals – and yourself – and start anew the next day. This is one of the most essential elements of making your new year’s resolutions last. Reward Yourself

If healthy eating is your goal and you’ve had a stellar week, give yourself a treat like a new box of peppermint tea or a fresh bunch of organic red grapes. Reward yourself.

We’re quick to bite our heads off when we derail. But how often do we reward ourselves, especially when we’re dealing with a major life change?

Stop by the local market on your way home from work on Fridays and give yourself a tangible little pat on the back whenever you can.