How to Choose a New Year's Resolution

The New Year's resolution seems like such a good idea to some people. Indeed, many people make resolutions every single year and in that moment it is likely that they fully intend to follow through on their resolution. However, too often people lose motivation or drive and their resolution falls by the wayside. Sometimes the resolutiondisappears that same day as people forget, justify, and simply reject their newfound resolution. Unfortunately, broken resolutions can lead to a certain amount of dissatisfaction for some people, as it is just testament to their inability to complete certain tasks. Therefore, selecting a resolution can be a very important task for some individuals. Here are a few thoughts on how to choose a New Year's resolution.

Time to get specific

A New Year's resolution must be specific if it is going to have a chance of succeeding. This means that people have to work out concepts, details, steps, and dates. A person cannot resolve to "lose some weight." They must resolve to lose a certain number of pounds by a particular date. In addition, they should work out strategies for meeting that resolution and there should be some intermediate steps to complete so that the resolution does not become something that is put off until another day. For some individuals, accountability from friends or family may be necessary in order to stay on a path to success. Some people do best when they take the time to write their resolution down and include their plan for meeting that resolution.

Is this really attainable?

Resolutions should be things that are somewhat realistic and attainable. The problem with some resolutions is that particular individuals shoot too high and then get easily discouraged because they feel as if their goal will never be met. Again, if people want to lose weight, it may not be prudent to start with a goal of 100 pounds. The person may want to start with 10 pounds, and then make a new goal after that resolution has been attained. This doesn't mean that people should set their sights low or pick something that can accomplished without any effort. Finding the balance between tough challenges and attainable quantities is often what makes a resolution workable or a failure.

Incentive

Finally, people must recognize that there has to be an incentive in order for a resolution to work. Plenty of people set out to meet certain goals, but they are quickly dismissed because the individual does not really want to attain that outcome. If people are perfectly happy in their current state, there may be no reason to go through a lot of pain and suffering to get to another state of being. Many individuals will even accept a lifestyle that is somewhat happy, as "perfectly happy" may not even be necessary to function in life. The bottom line is that unless a person has an inner drive that allows them to overcome obstacles, that person will always be at risk of resolution failure. Therefore, people must ask themselves to identify those things that will spur them on when they no longer feel like pursuing their New Year's resolution.