Every year anew we make New Year’s resolutions that we are determined to see through. It starts on 1 January. Every day we are disciplined about keeping our New Year’s resolutions and highly motivated! But little by little we notice how the initial ambition slowly fades and we gradually slip back into old habits.
In the end, we resolve to do the same things year after year: lose weight, do more sport, take time out more often, and so on. But that stops now! Here you will find out how to build habits for the long term and so keep your New Year’s resolutions for good.
Deep down, we are all creatures of habit. We like to get up at the same time, brush our teeth, get ready in our usual routine and spend the day in more or less the same way. So why do we find it so hard to build habits at the start of the new year? Most people start with very big New Year’s resolutions, such as losing 20 kg or doing sport every day, without having made any preparations for them at all. The following five tips will help you to integrate new habits into your everyday life and then stick to them!
Link New Year’s resolutions to habits you already have
A very easy way to make New Year’s resolutions a fixed part of your day is simply to link the new habit to an existing one.
If, for example, you would like to meditate every day, you can simply plan to do it before or after brushing your teeth and so link the two activities with each other. Before you know it, meditating every day will be the most natural thing in the world for you.
Break your New Year’s resolutions down into small interim goals
Losing twenty kilos sounds pretty overwhelming at first. But how does it sound if you set out to lose 1 kilo this month, another one next month, and so on? That seems quite doable straight away. It is often helpful to divide the big goal into many small ones and work through them one by one, and before you know it, the 20 kg have melted away.
Work on your New Year’s resolutions every day or at a fixed time each week
How often have we told ourselves that from next year we will exercise regularly? But what does regularly actually mean? Once a week, or once a month? Set yourself a clearly defined goal instead and write it in your calendar. That way it is firmly planned and you are more inclined to actually see it through.
Small things are best planned in every day. If you want to start exercising again, it can make more sense to pick 2-3 days first and schedule them firmly as training days.
Make it easier for yourself so that you do not need willpower
Various studies have shown that overcoming small obstacles with new habits costs a great deal of willpower. But you can easily save yourself that! If you want to go for a run after work, lay out your sports clothes beforehand so that all you have to do is get changed and set off. You want to stop smoking? Then try to avoid the kiosk where you buy your cigarettes. There are many small things you can prepare for yourself so that you need hardly any willpower to keep your New Year’s resolutions in the long term.
Reward yourself now and then
Of course, I do not mean that you should reward yourself with a bar of chocolate after jogging. But perhaps it will motivate you to buy yourself a new top at the end of a successful month, a new beauty product, or to treat yourself to some time out in the bath.
Small rewards usually help us to overcome our inner reluctance and simply get started. And once we are at it, we usually find anyway that it can actually be quite fun to integrate something new into everyday life and do something good for ourselves.
One more thing that is very important: New Year is not your only chance to change something. After a month you are no longer keeping your resolution? Then simply try again in February.
We are not tied to this one special moment in the year. We can use every day to make the best of ourselves!
