Why It’s Time to Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution (And What You Can Do Instead!)

So how’s your New Year’s resolution so far?

It’s almost the end of January! Time flies. What now?

Still on track? Good for you…

Feeling stuck? (I feel you)

Don’t you know that 64% of these resolutions get abandoned after one month??

Yup!

Nearly two-thirds of these goals you set will be long forgotten after just four weeks.

That has always been the case for me before. ( I speak for myself!) 

But there’s one thing I did differently. And that’s what I’m about to share with you.

Why It’s Time to Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution (And What You Can Do Instead!)

I remember years back…

…I started the year being hyped up committing to regularly exercise.

…and to simply being committed to waking up early.

…not to mention that I told myself to eat only healthy foods for my body!

Heck, I even made a love letter to myself to really be committed to executing them.

…only to fall through the cracks!

Can you relate?

So why does New Year’s Resolution doesn’t work? At least for me.

I don’t know about you, but here’s what I think why…

1. Making decisions based on extreme emotions!

I remember what my coach used to say…

“Don’t make decisions when you’re too happy or when you’re too sad. “

And I believe this really makes sense…

Did this ever happen to you?

You’re at the mall. You don’t have plans to buy anything at all…

But somewhere along the way, you saw this beautiful pair of running shoes…

You walk towards where it’s being displayed. Paid homage to its beauty.

All of a sudden, you found yourself saying, “Wow, this is really nice!”

Suddenly, your mind tells you…

“Your 3 running shoes are already worn out. You deserve this pair. After all, this will help you get back on track! “

After 10 minutes or so, you asked for your size. Tried to wear it.

It only took you 3 minutes before you told the saleslady…

“’Im buying this.”

Credit card swiped!

Hooh! That didn’t even get you to sweat.

Not until you receive your billing statement. And now your credits are piling up.

Boy, how many times did this happen to me!

Why do things like this happen again? Here’s why…

Decisions are largely emotional, not logical! 

And that’s how we do our New Year’s resolution most of the time. We get carried away by the hype since most people are doing it.

That it becomes short-lived.

Which leads me to the second reason why it doesn’t work most of the time.

2. It becomes a fad.

Fad is defined as “an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived; a craze”

It’s almost the same with trends.

Because it has been the case for most people to do New Year’s resolution, you get to live up to the hype as well!

How many times did you make it your New Year’s resolution to stop smoking? Or to go to the gym? To lose those belly fats??

Only to set the same New Year’s resolution the following year.

Now why does this happen?

Because of the wide gap.

Many people set New Year’s resolution before the start of the year (which is really awesome by the way).

But here’s when this becomes a problem..

When you don’t get to assess your progress as the days go by. (great if you do)

Most New year’s resolutions are short-lived. Hence, they eventually die down as the days go by.

Why? They are not being tracked.

“So how do I get this to work?”, you ask. 

It’s Time to Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution. Here’s What You Can Do Instead

Instead of a New Year’s resolution (which only happens during the start of the year), why not create a detailed plan for your whole year??

Here’s what I mean by that…

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

| RELATED: Why Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

So, is the reason why we fail when we set New Year’s Resolution.

You fail to plan (myself included). This makes your New Year’s resolution short-lived.

Here’s what I did differently that changed the course of my game.

| RELATED: How to Achieve Goals in 2020? Remember Your ABC’S for Success

It is my hope that through this real-life experience, you’ll get yours to work as well.

I still set goals for the whole year. The only difference is this…

I break it down into weekly goals.

Yep, I do my weekly planning.

Every freakin’ Friday.

The key here is to choose a day when you can be most productive! 

As for me, I always make it a point that every Friday, I give myself the best gift I could get..

So this is what I do every Friday…

Just when most people are busy, I make it a point to go to Starbucks to assess my goals.  (Please know that this is not a sponsored post. ) 😉

I’m an ambivert type of person. While I love to socialize with people, I always see to it that I have a non-interrupted moment with me.

Just me.

This is when I get to write down my goals. Assessed what went well during the past week. And of course,  what needs to be improved for the following week.

And that’s when I do the necessary adjustment.

I tell you, it works like magic.

This is the reason why Friday is the most productive day of the week for me.

It keeps me on track with my goals.

Here’s how it looks like when I do my weekly planning. It is my hope that this will help you plan your week as well.

Ready? Good! (Have your pen and paper ready 😉 )

1. Write down your wins!

I always believe that there’s power when you write down your dreams. More so, with your detailed weekly plans. So yes, make sure you bring your notebook and your pen here.

Write down what went well. Your wins for the week.

Being grateful (by writing them down) for the great things that happened to me during the week gives me a sense of hope.

It sets the tone of my weekly planning every week.

2. Create a checklist of what you plan to accomplish the following week.

What you cannot measure, you cannot improve!

This is the reason why you need to have a checklist of the things you plan to do the following week.

Based on my experience, when I started doing this weekly checklist, I don’t get to tick off most of my plans during the week.

And that’s okay (don’t be so hard on yourself).

Your weekly assessment is a reminder that there’s still another week waiting for you.

And the more you do this weekly planning, the more that you get to implement what’s on your list.

3. Revisit your main goal for the year.

This what I like when doing my weekly goals. I get to revisit what it is I plan to accomplish for the whole year.

By doing it every week, I break them down into tiny steps that I can implement every week!

It makes things doable and achievable for me. Remember, you don’t want to feel so overwhelmed with your plans!

You have the whole year to take action.

But for now, enjoy your journey as you get to do those tiny steps every week!

Trust me, you’ll get there! It’s just a matter of time.

So there…

Let me set your expectation though that this is not a “one size fits all” stuff.

What works for me may not work for you. But I do hope that through these tips I shared, you’ll find out what works best for you.

Now, right back at you!

Are you ready to ditch your New Year’s resolution? What do you plan to do differently this year?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for!

Rooting for you,
March Nacino