Set a New Year’s Resolution You’ll Keep

New Year’s resolutions, unfortunately, often go unfulfilled for a reason: You are setting yourself up for failure.

According to North Central University, an estimated 88% of New Year’s resolutions are destined fail. This can make the idea of setting resolutions daunting at best, as many people fear the disappointments of failure; however, it doesn’t have to be this way.

When you decide to set a New Year’s resolution, it’s important to set yourself up for success. Clinical psychologist Jason Hutchings explains that it’s paramount to think about our natural emotional and physical responses when we decide upon a goal.

“We have three major components: the head, the heart and the body,” Hutchings says. “When we rely too much or lean too far in one direction we become unbalanced. For example, if we make a decision to work out and exercise from an intellectual place within us, we forget that the body and emotions also need to help carry out the activity and we will be defeated before we start.”

Keeping this in mind, how do we pick goals for ourselves that compensate for our emotional and physical limitations? How do we select resolutions that we are able to keep, and that will further our goals without depleting our confidence? The answer, it would seem, is to think about resolutions differently. Instead of making drastic revisions — say, losing 50 pounds — we might be wiser to make small changes to our behavior.

Add New, Better Behaviors

To set yourself up for success, many experts recommend adding a new behavior, rather than taking one away. For example, Brittany Kennedy, founder of OnPoint Nutrition, recommends thinking about what small activities can lead to achieving your overall goal, then using those activities as resolutions.

“I suggest setting smaller, more attainable goals to avoid pitfalls, and slowly work your way toward the new lifestyle that you are creating,” she says. “Setting small goals such as eating breakfast every day, packing lunch three days a week, and substituting fruit for an unhealthy daily snack are all easy, good places to start. Once you have accomplished your first goal, set another and move forward.”

This concept — that one resolution can lead to another — is key. Take weight loss, a common New Year’s resolution, as an example. You’ve probably heard many times the old adage that long-term weight loss isn’t about a fad diet or an unsustainable exercise routine; it is, rather, rooted in making a lifestyle change. With that in mind, experts suggest adding one behavior at the start of the new year.

Let’s say you resolve to add vegetables to every meal. After a month or two of keeping this resolution it will feel more natural to replace soda with water. By now you may have started seeing some small results, so another positive behavior can be resolved upon. This tactic will set you up for success, rather than failure, by taking into account your physiological and emotional responses to food.

“The easy and exciting part of a New Year’s resolution is the beginning when you decide to change,” Hutchings explains. “However, as mentioned above, there is a difference between deciding to do something different and the maintenance of that decision over time. We very often make a decision with only our intellectual mind and do not foresee the emotional or physical challenges that are ahead.

Hutchings recommends not making a long list of changes, but focusing on one or two things.

“In my opinion, a good resolution should be very small and measureable,” he says.

Track Your Progress

This brings us to the second half of resolution-setting: Tracking your progress. If the concept of stepping on the scale to see whether or not you’ve lost weight terrifies you, you’re not alone. Doing so can easily backfire: It’s easy to have an emotional response to the number on the scale, and subsequently determine that your efforts have not been worth your time. Therefore, tracking progress by monitoring behavior is vastly preferable to tracking progress by monitoring external factors or numbers.

Find Community Support

Getting support from other people, including family members and friends, is beneficial to keeping New Year’s resolutions.

“Change is difficult when done alone or in isolation,” Hutchings explains. Tracking progress could be done with the aid of psychotherapy, coaching, mediation, personal trainers, or other modalities. Having an external reminder can be very useful, such as joining a group where you are surrounded with others with a similar aim. This external reminder can aid us in staying true to our original intention.”

The American Psychological Association recommends that you make your intentions clear to your family and friends. This can not only hold you accountable for your goals, but also provide you with the support needed to vent your frustrations or voice your fears in a supportive environment.

“Share your experiences with family and friends,” the APA states. “Consider joining a support group to reach your goals, such as a workout class at your gym or a group of co-workers quitting smoking. Having someone to share your struggles and successes with makes your journey to a healthier lifestyle that much easier and less intimidating.”

Resolutions Revisited

With all of this in mind, what should these new, adjusted resolutions actually look like? Here are a few of the goals you may have been considering, as well as a few alternative goals that may be more attainable, trackable and ultimately successful.

Old Resolution: Lose 25 pounds.

Revised Resolution Ideas: Walk for 20 minutes every night or make vegetables 50% of every meal.

In the case of weight loss, making small changes is much more likely to result in success than broad, sweeping goals.

“The best resolution tip I could give anyone is to be realistic,” Kennedy says. “Don’t try to completely change who you are all at one time. For example, your New Year’s resolution could be to lessen your chance of having high cholesterol because high cholesterol runs in your family. To do this, you should increase your intake of high fiber foods, such as oats, nuts, and whole grains.”

Once you’ve settled on a behavior that you’d like to change, be sure to keep yourself accountable by tracking your habits.

Old Resolution: Get a new job.

Revised Resolution: Volunteer.

While the idea of getting a new job can sound difficult, you can take small steps now that can better prepare you for any interviews you may have in the long run. For example, while you’re still in your current role, look into ways you can volunteer in your community. Not only will you feel like the work you’re doing is valuable (a sentiment that may be lacking in your current job), you’ll be bolstering your chances of getting hired in the future.

In fact, according to LinkedIn, one in five hiring managers says he or she hired someone because of volunteer experience. While getting a new job may not always be within your control, volunteering is much more so — and it can really add to your resume.

Old Resolution: Keep your house cleaner.

Revised Resolution: De-clutter your basement

Many people resolve to get their home in order in the coming year, but for many, the task is extremely daunting. In her book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” Marie Kondo gives many pieces of advice for embarking on a clutter-free lifestyle. Give it a read, and then resolve to de-clutter. Perhaps your initial resolution is to clean your basement, but you may find that you decide to tackle your entire home before year’s end.

Old Resolution: Get out of debt

Revised Resolution: Replace one indulgence with an automatic transfer to your savings account

Instead of trying to find ways to scrimp and save throughout the year, budget before the year begins. Perhaps you spend $5 per day on coffee. Set aside $25 per week — one $5 coffee per weekday — and have that amount automatically transferred to your savings account. At the end of the month, you’ll have an extra $100 to $125 to put toward your debt. Over time, you can replace other indulgences (perhaps you spend about $50 per week on workday lunches), leading to even bigger payments toward your debt.

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Always remember: The best way to set yourself up for success in resolutions and similar endeavors is to build the new behavior into your daily life. Rather than getting up early to go to the gym — a behavior you may be unlikely to adhere to, at least at first — get off the train a few extra stops from your apartment so you’ll have to walk home. Or ask a coworker to take walks with you after lunch so that someone will be holding you accountable for getting more physical activity into your day.

With small adjustments to behavior, the big goals — weight loss, retirement savings, or a clutter-free home — will become much more attainable.