Making Sticky Resolutions

Are you making a New Year’s resolution this year? If so, how can you make it a sticky resolution, something that motivates you, something that you can stick with over the next few months?

We’ve all made aspirational resolutions on 31st December in the first flush of enthusiasm for a new year and a new beginning, and the optimism that comes from being with friends and having a few drinks. We make a resolution, start on it the next day, do it for about a week, then we get busy or distracted by other things and it slips away.  It’s not sticky!

So how can you make resolutions that stick?

Somebody asked me recently whether I had kept last year’s resolution. To be honest, I hadn’t thought about it until then, but I realised that I had kept it – and I also realised what had enabled me to stick to it. I had turned the aspiration into reality by making it actionable, I had planned specific actions into each week. If you find tend to procrastinate, the guidance here will help you.

My New Year’s Resolution for 2024 was to spend more time with family and friends. That might not sound ambitious, but I’m self-employed and I easily fill all my time with work and with writing. I enjoy it, and it’s a big part of my life. But I realised that I was not meeting my emotional needs for contact with family and friends. So I marked out three half days each week to see people, and I set aside some weekends for family time. This has worked really well and I feel much happier. I’ll be continuing this pattern in 2025.

My New Year’s resolution for 2025 is to feel more relaxed. I’m going to leave space in my diary for the unexpected things that crop up, and to plan for everything I do to take longer than I expect! Most of us are pretty bad at planning – this is why construction projects always overrun on time and budget. Many of the people I coach have difficulty with this too. There are no more hours in the day, so you have to find ways of prioritising your activities to the time available, and not getting stressed about the things you don’t have time to do.

I’ll turn this aspiration into reality by setting only one major task to do each day, leaving time for the minor things that occur….and by not having back to back meetings. Ask me next December whether I managed it!

These are my principles for making resolutions achievable:Express your resolution as something positive (not a negative aim like giving something up or losing something).Make it easy by working out how to get started and by planning actionable steps.Make it enjoyable by including something you like doing, or giving yourself regular rewards as you progress.

Good luck with making your resolutions sticky!

For guidance and templates on setting goals, see my book Motivation: The Ultimate Guide to Leading Your Team, chapters 4 and 5.  You’ll also find advice keeping your resolutions here and goal-setting guidance in this blog.

Happy New Year!

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