Not long now until the New Year. Crazy, huh! Many of us set some “resolutions” at the beginning of a new year; a commitment to spend more time with our families, lose some weight, give up smoking, have more work/life balance to name a few!

But did you know that only a mere 8% of us actually follow through on our resolutions?

Not much of a commitment then, is it?

Well, because it’s that time of year again, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about resolutions and how to make them stick.

But you know what? I actually don’t want to talk about resolutions at all.

I want to talk about goals.

Rather than set some throw-away resolutions, why not set some realistic, achievable goals?

Goals are way more exciting!

Here’s the process:

1) Set your goals

There are 4 basic categories I like to focus on when I set goals. They are health, relationships (family and friends), career and wealth. (Feel free to throw in some other ones that may be important to you if you like).

Think about what would be most important for you to achieve in the next year in these categories.

For example, in the health category, it may be that you want to lose 5kg. With your family, it may be to book 1 awesome holiday you can experience with your kids and partner this year.

2) Set an action plan

Commit to taking action on your goals every week. For example, commit to beginning with 2 workouts per week for the first month, then increase it to 3 each week for the next month, or whatever it may be.

The clearer your action plan, the better off you’ll be.

3) Follow through

This is the part of the process that is the most important, yet most challenging to achieve.

Something that has helped me immensely this year has been enlisting the help of a workout buddy.

I’m so much more motivated knowing that I don’t want to let my partner down by missing a workout! Try and schedule time for you to work on your goals – you’ll be more likely to make it happen if it’s scheduled in your diary around kids drop off and pick up, doctor’s appointments, etc.

Also, involve the people close to you – your partner, your mum, your sister, etc. People in your support network will be able to help you on the days you don’t feel like taking action on your goals.

4) Celebrate

This is the best bit! As if achieving your goal wasn’t enough, I highly recommend a reward for yourself.

If you’ve lost weight, then why not go out and buy some new clothes? Or if you get a payrise at work because of your extra effort, why not take yourself and your partner out for a nice dinner?

We need to celebrate ourselves for our hard work. It reinforces that we’ve done a good job and so we will be more likely to do the hard work necessary next time.

So there you have it. Four easy steps to help you make 2016 your best year yet!

1. Set goals
2. Make an action plan
3. Follow through
4. Celebrate!

Hope you all have a very Happy New Year!

What goals will you set for yourself? Please SHARE in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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