Here are some tips for keeping those resolutions when your willpower starts to falter.
Start small
Psychologist Lynn Bufka suggests being realistic about any resolutions.
“It’s quite daunting to say that you want to lose 50 pounds and thus, will never eat dessert again,” she said. “It might be more helpful to say, you’re only going to have dessert on the weekends and for special occasions.”
Behavioral health experts recommend breaking ambitious goals into smaller targets, like swapping at least one snack for fruit and vegetables or getting some exercise for 10 minutes every day. Once you start hitting these smaller goals, the bigger ones might not seem so daunting.
Think positive
It’s tough to make big changes. Bufka said that simply thinking more positively about what your ultimate goal is and what you’re gaining from your changed behavior can bolster your motivation.
“If I put money in a jar for what I would have spent on chocolate every day, that starts to add up,” explained Bufka, deputy chief of research and policy at the American Psychological Association.
Focusing on what the resolution is helping you to accomplish rather than what you’re being deprived of can be a powerful way to reframe your thinking, experts say.
Focus on goals
A study of New Year’s resolutions found that people who focus on specific goals are more successful than those simply trying to kick bad habits.
Among more than 1,000 people, scientists found the most popular resolutions focused on exercise, weight loss, and eating habits. Other resolutions focused on self-improvement, personal finance, and mental health and stress reduction.
Among the 55% of people who said they’d kept their resolutions after one year, nearly 60% of them had made resolutions involving goals, versus 47% of those focused on avoiding certain behaviors.
Enlist friends and your calendar
Involving others in your efforts, both for support and to hold yourself accountable, may also help. Someone who decides to start exercising more, for example, might find it helpful to join a running group or find a gym class with friends, to make training less of a chore.
Experts also recommended scheduling time in your calendar to help you keep your resolution, such as blocking off a specific period every morning or evening.
Be kind to yourself
Change is hard, so don’t expect perfection. There will inevitably be times when it feels impossible to keep your resolution, or you want to give up.
“A great resolution might be, ‘I will be less judgmental with myself,’” said Tamara Russell of the British Psychological Society. “Research shows that the more we develop self-compassion, the more compassionate we can become towards others.”
Lastly, if Jan. 1 feels like an artificial date to adopt new resolutions, make the changes on your own schedule.
Russell said it makes “no sense at all” to make resolutions pegged to the calendar year, given that winter is typically a time of hibernation for much of the natural world.
She said that, as a season of growth and renewal, spring might be a better time for most people to embrace change.
To better keep resolutions, Russell suggests reviewing each week what has and hasn’t worked.
“Keep refining and don’t be afraid to adjust and fine-tune what you are doing,” she said. “Study your own behavior like a scientist.”