SOS: Resolution Motivation
How to keep holding yourself accountable to your New Year’s goals
UH OH. It’s the middle of January. How are those New Year, New You health resolutions going?? If you find yourself starting to falter, never fear. Perhaps you just need to find a new strategy for holding yourself accountable, keeping tabs on your activities, and boosting your motivation.
If you think you might be in this boat, welcome to the party. I assure you that you’re not alone. Try these steps below for finding a new accountability strategy.
Step 1: List every [productive and positive] way you can think of to hold yourself accountable to the actions you’ve decided to take.
Here’s a start:
Accountability partner
Bullet journal or check box calendar for mapping daily progress
List of small rewards for meeting certain milestones
Daily journaling for reflection
Join a group challenge
Habit jar - add one thing to a jar each time you complete the specified activity with the goal of filling the jar.
Continue this list with other strategies you can think of for YOUR situation.
Step 2: Take a look at your list and re-write the items, ranking them by which strategies you think may be most effective for you.
Step 3: Try out your top strategy for two weeks. Take a few notes in a journal to reflect on how well it worked or why it wasn’t completely successful for you.
Step 4: Try out strategy #2 on the list. Repeat journal reflections. Continue on until you think you’ve found a few that had varying degrees of success.
Step 5: Review your notes and select 1-3 strategies to combine so that you are most likely to succeed in your monitoring and accountability. Continue to reflect on these techniques on a regular basis. Our lives constantly change; our habits and strategies need to adapt too!
A few final thoughts:
Habits can take anywhere from a few days to 200 days to become automatic routines, depending on the degree of change and skill involved. Don’t give up!
Remember that healthy activities of all kinds are a form of self-care. Choose a variety of strategies for your own self-care so that you can show up as the best version of yourself for your life and for others.
Reframe your mindset to view these new habits as becoming a part of “who you are” versus something that you “have to do.” If health-forward activities are a part of our identity, it is easier to keep up with them and truly enjoy them.
Good luck and keep it up! I believe in you.
JMJ