Revisiting New Year’s Resolutions

Let’s keep the new motivation going! Here are some tips that will help you not only create resolutions, but stick to them too.

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If you’re anything like me the fact that it’s a new year has probably drifted to the back of your mind with the impending doom of midterms and papers just over the horizon (if any of y’all have already written some…my deepest condolences). This new year I saw a huge jump in folks recapping their decades and setting goals for this year and beyond. As someone who loves new year resolutions, I was pretty excited. Of course, we hear the same thing every year about how we should seize the day and make insert-year-here your best year yet! Part of me understands the impulse to dismiss new year resolutions as a fad. A lot of folks bring up valid concerns like, why not set goals throughout the year? Or why wait for January 1 to better yourself and make new, healthy habits? But my opinion is pretty straightforward: if January 1 works to make you feel like you have the chance to manifest some positive change in your life, why not do it! I’ve created five tips that have worked for me in not only creating resolutions, but sticking to them.

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This year I made 26 resolutions. Extra. I know. Usually I aim for about 15–20, but honestly, I just write whatever comes to mind. Some are related to each other (I had a couple on self-care and having healthy friendships) and some stand alone (save x amount of $). For some people, a smaller list of goals might feel more doable (maybe not exceeding 3–5, but I’m not someone who worries about completing every task I set out. Usually goals that I worked towards and didn’t complete will make their way into my resolutions for the following year (my do-laundry-in-a-timely-manner goals. They are never fulfilled).

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There’s definitely some mixed opinions on this one. A lot of people suggest that you should make only specific resolutions and work on sticking to them the best you can. I’m someone who prefers a large number of resolutions ranging from broad ideas to specific goals so there’s a higher likelihood I have the flexibility to complete them. For example, a broad goal of mine is to reduce my impact on the environment. Some specifics I wrote down are reducing my fast-fashion consumption, and I decided to stop using plastic forks/spoons. But by keeping a broader goal, at the end of the year I can *hopefully* look back and see how I also achieved my goal through multiple different ways that I reduced my environmental impact (by staying vegan, taking transit, participating in climate justice activism) whether or not I had specified those exactly.

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This one kind of builds on setting broad goals and narrowing them down. Rather than conceptualize each resolution as its own, I like to categorize my resolutions. Some categories I’ve used are academic goals, personal goals, financial goals, health goals, and environmental goals. Honestly, the list could go on! The benefit of categorizing allows you to set goals for certain areas of your life/self and see if you’re missing anything.

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Every year (for the past five or so years anyway) I have found revisiting my resolutions multiple times throughout the year is more effective than just writing them down. And I know, I know, this isn’t news for anyone. It’s probably obvious that if you write down a resolution and forget about it, it probably wasn’t the most realistic, nor the most effective way of achieving your goals. I aim to revisit my resolutions once a month, and re-evaluate them halfway through the year. Usually I’ll re-evaluate them during my birth-month (August for all you fellow Leos), and see if any resolutions need to be adjusted, changed entirely, or if I have new resolutions to add. This way, you can hold yourself accountable and be a little snooty when people suggest the New Year is the only time you set goals :-)

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For me, setting goals and making resolutions is exciting. It gives me a chance to reflect on the year or the month, and practice some much needed self-awareness. With the stresses of school, work, personal lives and all things student life, setting resolutions can be something that helps you manage all your responsibilities and prioritize the things that are most important to you.

And hey, one of my resolutions in 2018 was to meet Chris Evans, and I did. So… speak it into existence, I guess?

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