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There is very little time left to welcome the new year. Like every year, this year too, you might be filled with the desire to make changes in your life or have great hopes for a healthier, happier and more successful year. However, in order to turn these hopes into reality, it is not enough to just think but also to take solid and sustainable steps. Because when goals are not sustainable, they can lead to a loss of motivation. Therefore, it is very important to set your goals, be determined and make the right planning to implement these goals.

So how can you make your New Year's resolutions more applicable and sustainable? Let's take a look at the steps that will enable you to implement your New Year's resolutions.

Set Realistic and Achievable Goals

In order for New Year's goals to be long-term, these goals must be achievable and realistic. If you divide goals like “I will be much healthier this year!” into smaller and measurable pieces like “I will start exercising!” or “I will eat one meal of vegetables a day!”, you can progress on the path to success without losing your motivation.

You can use the “S.M.A.R.T” method when determining your New Year’s resolutions. This method divides your goals into small pieces that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. For example, setting a specific goal like “I will read two books every month.” instead of “I will read more books this year.” makes your goal more attainable. With the S.M.A.R.T method, you can reduce the possibility of losing your way while implementing your resolutions. In this way, you can both achieve your New Year’s goals and keep your motivation high throughout the year.

Start by Breaking Your Goals into Small Steps

Big goals can be exciting but implementing these goals without breaking them into small steps can sometimes be challenging. When you break your goals into small steps, each step you complete offers you small victories. Rewarding yourself at this stage increases your motivation and makes you want to continue towards your goal. For example, if you would like to make exercise a habit, you can take short walks that you repeat for three days in the first weeks. After a while, you can expand this goal and add new exercises to your workout program.

Track Your Goals with a Calendar and Agenda

Tracking and recording the progress of your goals helps you stay motivated. At this stage, you can use a calendar or track your goals using digital calendar applications. You can determine which steps you need to take daily or weekly by getting a new year's agenda. You can also connect your goals with the "Don't Break the Chain Calendar", which has become popular in recent years and record your progress throughout the year.

Evaluate Yourself

Creating a habit of being accountable to yourself plays an effective role in the process of achieving your goals. You need to clearly observe what you have achieved or what you have difficulty with with weekly or monthly evaluations. These evaluations can help you shape your future steps and provide you with the opportunity to get to know yourself better.

If you would like to make walking a habit for a healthy lifestyle, you can make a comprehensive assessment at the end of each day or each week and determine what motivates you to walk or what prevents you from walking. In this way, it becomes much more possible to increase the things in your life that motivate you to walk and reduce the things that prevent you from walking. If you cannot reach the goal that you set for yourself, think about the reasons and develop new strategies for the next month. 

Keep Your Motivation Alive, Don't Be Discouraged by Failure

Your motivation may sometimes decrease as you strive to achieve your New Year's goals. It is important to find support mechanisms and sources of inspiration in such moments. You can establish a support network by sharing your goals with your friends or family. A supportive environment can help you get motivated again in difficult times. Vision boards that you can use while moving towards your goal can keep your motivation alive. You can place your goals and inspiring images on the vision board. In addition, reading success stories, listening to inspiring podcasts, or participating in events that encourage you can help you get closer to your goals.

Every individual may encounter unexpected problems on their journey to achieve their goals. In such cases, it is important to be gentle with yourself and keep your motivation high. Failures in life are a natural part of the process of achieving goals and encountering some obstacles along the way should be accepted as normal. Remember that every failure can provide a new learning opportunity and create extra motivation to achieve your goals for the rest of the year.