Vicki Anstey: Sticking to your new years resolutions

New Years resolutions are such cliché, but also something of an inevitability. A new year represents a new outlook whether we want to radically overhaul our lifestyle, make a few subtle changes, or continue good habits we’ve already established.

Think of it as an opportunity to take stock at the very least, or make some key positive changes at worst. But whatever you do, don’t succumb to the pressure of listing 500 significant and radical new years resolutions that will overwhelm you and make you feel like you’ve already failed before you’ve even taken the Christmas tree down.

Here are my top tips for sticking to your new years resolutions:

Keep it simple – and bite-sized

Limit your resolutions to 1, 3 or a maximum of 5 goals. And be specific. So instead of saying, ‘I’m going to be more healthy’ resolve to:

• Drink 2 litres of water every day
• Eat vegetables with every meal
• Do 30 minutes of exercise every day

None of these require investment or expense, or take up time from your day. They are all perfectly do-able. You could walk, cycle or run to work and build your resolutions effortlessly into your day.

You have to want it

Back to the old intrinsic vs extrinsic debate. Where does the desire to change come from? Do you want to change for aesthetic gain, or to prove something to somebody else or do you want to live longer or be more active for your children? If you just want to drop a dress size, or receive praise from others you’ll find your motivation wanes as soon as the change becomes difficult to sustain, but if you are driven by personal, inherent satisfaction you’ll stick at it.

Avoid repeating past mistakes

If you repeatedly fall at the hurdle of achieving something you think you want. Consider whether you do REALLY want it. Back to the above extrinsic/instrinsic question, your motivation to do it has to be greater than your reasons not to. If you find that the idea of ‘banning’ something from your life is too restrictive and therefore not achievable, think about writing a ‘less of this, more of that’ list. Or, instead of making New Year’s resolutions, think about Daily resolutions. Give yourself some guidelines, rather than rules.

Measurability of your new years resolutions

Always plan and set a time frame. Very few resolutions are achievable overnight. You’ll probably have to plan ahead and break the overall challenge down into stages. Give yourself milestones to hit along the way and make sure you write it down…that way you’ll have a record of what your goals are and you’ll be able to refer back to it any time you need to.

Talk about it

Accountability is key to the successful completion of any goal. Tell your friends what you hope to achieve. Hell, share eit on social media if you’re feeling really brave. If you want it that badly, telling the world about it should feel exciting. And if you’re worried about delivering against the expectation of others, that’s a great incentive to reach your goal.

Don’t expect new years resolutions to be easy

Nothing worth having comes easy, right? And if it was easy, you’d already be doing it. So set your expectations low and then aim to over-deliver. It will be hard, it will take consistent effort, at times, almost everything will seem like a better alternative. Keep your eye on the prize and you’ll get there. But don’t be rigid, things will get in the way or delay you in achieving your goal, be flexible and BE KIND TO YOURSELF. Celebrate the small victories, look back each day, week or month and see how far you’ve come. Remember that change is a process. Habits take weeks to form and weeks to change. It won’t happen overnight.