Let’s focus on a really important part of the resolution process and one which we tend to skip over.

One way to greatly improve the odds of making your New Year’s resolutions successful is preparation. Your ability to achieve your desired result really depends on how prepared you are to jump into a resolution. So if you’re reading this on the day it is posted, which is Wednesday, January 12th, you’ve already had almost two weeks of working on your resolution. If you’re reading this later in the month, maybe you’ve been working on your resolution for longer. If you’re staying the course and achieving your goals, congratulations! However, if you’re hitting a rocky road, muddling through, or just getting started (and those are all okay places to be), then pause for a moment and consider if you haven’t done the right preparation. I encourage you to take a breath and think about the steps that I’m going to outline in this post.

Preparing in advance is huge. There’s no substitute for being fully ready to enact positive change. When you are about to adopt a new habit or new lifestyle, the best thing you can do is to get yourself physically and mentally adjusted to operating in unfamiliar territory.

Preparing to make a positive change by adopting a New Year’s resolution consists of 5 steps:

Dream Big, Start Small

Let’s consider the common resolution of getting healthier.  This is a really big, broad goal. There’s nothing specific or concrete about how you are going to get healthier. It’s a very, very general desire. If you want to get healthier, there’s a ton of ways to do it. You can go to your doctor and talk with him/her about starting an exercise regimen or a diet program. You can discuss natural remedies and medications which you might need. Picking something specific provides you with a way to concentrate your efforts.

Going on a diet is another example of a very general goal. What kind of diet are you going to follow? Will it be a temporary fad diet, will you become vegan and make a complete lifestyle change, or will you follow a program which is monitored by a healthcare professional?  The broad goal of exercising can be made more specific, too. Are you going to join a gym? Are you going to sign up for fitness classes? Will you go once a week? Are you going to hire a personal trainer who’s going to come to your home? Again, there are lots of lots of ways to achieve this goal which are much more specific than just starting to workout. The lesson is to dream big and start small because measurable, specific steps lead to success.

Prepare in Advance

Small, measurable actions, which you can track, are going to help you monitor your progress. Also, they make preparation easier. If your small step is not drinking soda anymore, then you need to get soda out of your house during your preparation phase. Keeping soda in the pantry is setting yourself up for failure. If you have soda easily accessible, your resolution is never going to stick.

Insight: Learn From Your Past

Is Change the Best Option?

Then, ask yourself if the change you want really is the best option for you. Staying away from drinking sugary sodas is a great way to adopt healthy habits. Still, the way you’ve gone about it, such as totally cutting out all carbonated beverages, might not be the best way to change. That drastic change might not be the best way for you. Instead, switching to carbonated water may ease your transition away from bubbly beverages. Recognize if the change you are considering is going to bring about your overall goal.

Make an Action Plan

Finally, when you set a resolution, make an action plan to go along with it. If there’s no action plan about how you’re going to carry this out, you’re probably going to end up muddling through for a couple of weeks and then not sticking with it. Also, if the action plan is unrealistic, you’re going to give up. Begin with something you know you can do and do well. This will help you gain momentum, feel good about your hard work, and want to continue making strides.

I hope this post helps you set yourself up for success with your New Year’s resolutions this year. Remember, if things don’t quite go the way that you plan, you can start a resolution any day. Actually, any second of any day is a good time to start adopting positive change. A resolution does not have to begin on January 1st. So, if you know something is good for you, take the time that you need to properly prepare for lasting success when making a change.

Need an accountability buddy?

Having trouble turning your resolutions into a smashing success? Maybe you need a little encouragement? I’m here to help. Let’s schedule a FREE 30 minute session to discuss where you are with adopting change and how I can support you with achieving your goals.