By : Agnes Aui
As we bid farewell to 2020, it’s that time of the year again to bring out your notebooks, planners and colourful pens as we list down our New Year’s Resolutions for the upcoming year of 2021!
New Year’s Resolutions is a yearly tradition followed by many, in which a person sets a yearly goal to instill good practices or change a bad behavior to overall improve their life.
Why should we have New Year’s Resolutions?
It’s common for people to discourage you from setting New Year’s Resolutions with the reason being that you’ll feel unmotivated one month into achieving that goal. While that may sometimes be true, New Year’s Resolutions are still important to keeping you motivated as you adjourn into the new year.
It can be quite frightening for some of us as we’re unsure of the plan for next weekend, let alone next year. Which is why setting goals at the start of the year can help keep your mind on track and assure you throughout the year. It will also help you make the right decisions in life as you have a rough idea of what you want.
Setting resolutions will also help you in your personal growth, to become who you really want to be. Like how you aspire to be fit and healthy that you’re able to run a full marathon with ease. Well, setting resolutions is a great way to help you become that person. It will assist you in self-reflecting and clearing your mind to focus on the person you want to become.
Setting your New Year’s Resolutions
#1 Start small
When you start small, you set goals that are easier to achieve yet amounts to that one big goal at the end. Not only do you allow yourself to relish in these mini accomplishments, you also don’t damage your motivation by overwhelming yourself with such a big and overpowering goal.
Therefore, when it comes to setting New Year’s Resolutions, start out small. Set goals that are manageable for the kind of lifestyle that you live in and set those that you’ll most likely be able to keep. This makes it more realistic and gives you more focus in life.
#2 Define your goals clearly
Once you’ve set a goal, define it. Let’s say your goal is to save money. But how will you save money if you don’t know how much to save in the first place? So, define your goal. For example, note down that you’ll save RM10 a week and the way to achieve that amount of saving is to limit how much you spend on food every week.
When you define your goals, it’s much easier to stay focused because you already know what you should do in order to achieve that goal. Having a small target with clear and precise definition, you’ll be more encouraged and there will be more reasons to celebrate your progress.
#3 Plan ahead
To ensure success, you will need to plan ahead. This involves reading up on how you can make the change and planning your steps day-by-day. Remember, your resolutions don’t have to start on the 1st of January itself. So, take some time to think and work on a plan that would ensure success as you progress throughout the year.
Another thing to note is to ensure you have everything you need in order to achieve that goal. For example, if you’re planning to take up hiking, then make sure you have your equipment ready like hiking boots, waterproof backpack, water bottle and a face towel. By doing so, you’ll have no excuse not to do it.
#4 Educate yourself
Let’s say your goal is to lose 20 kilograms but you don’t have a single knowledge on fitness or exercising. It’s likely that you’ll struggle to achieve this goal. Which is why it’s important to research before writing down your New Year’s Resolutions.
When you’ve figured out roughly what you want your goal to be, start researching and reading up. Try googling about it or maybe take a trip to your local library. You can also ask your family and friends for advice, because you never know if any of them have had similar experiences as you. Educating yourself with more knowledge will help you achieve your goal better.
#5 Go public with your resolutions
Don’t be afraid to share your resolutions with the public. In fact, it may help you achieve it even more. This is because when sharing our goals with the public, it holds us accountable, making it harder to back down or back out from it.
It also reminds us about the resolution we made when we share it with friends and family as the topic may come out when you meet up with them. Having a friend share the same resolution with you is even better, as you both can keep each other on track and celebrate together when you achieve it.
How to achieve your goals this 2021
#1 Don’t be perfect
Striving to be perfect all the time can weigh on unnecessary stress and overwhelm you to the point of giving up. It can also mean failing more. Try to do your best every time you take a step towards your goal instead of being perfect.
#2 Have discipline
If you want to achieve something, it’s important to be disciplined throughout the progress. This is because having little to no discipline will encourage procrastination, resulting in your tasks being undone. So, do your best to instill discipline in your life and get at least one thing done everyday.
#3 Embrace positivity
Instead of thinking of all the bad things that can happen when it comes to achieving your resolutions, switch it around and think of all the good things that could happen instead. By embracing positivity, you’ll have the drive to keep going.
#4 One a day
Take at least one step a day to achieve your goal. It may look small right now, but these steps will add up to bigger things in the future. It also doesn’t feel too much, which will help in keeping you motivated.
#5 Have fun with it
It is indeed important to be serious when it comes to achieving your goals. However, it’s also alright to have fun with it to make sure that you don’t burn yourself out in the process. Just ensure to balance it all out and you’ll have a memorable progres
