Turn Quitters Day into Winners Day
Skipping a gym day, snoozing your phone alarm, giving into the temptation of a chocolate bar — if you’re ready to throw in the towel on your new year’s resolutions, take solace in not being alone. National Quitters Day was last Friday, illuminating the vast number of people who give up on their goals by the second Friday of January every year.
But goals are important to your well-being, and the new year is the perfect time to set renewed intentions and approach life with a fresh outlook. Here are five tips and tricks for sticking to your personal and professional goals all year long.
1. Write Them Down
Experts agree that writing down information improves retention and makes you more likely to follow through. One of the best ways to solidify the goals you create is by physically putting them in front of you. And if you are chronically online (like me) and thought to yourself, ‘I’ll throw away the paper in 20 minutes,’ then use your phone or another tool to concretize your goals.
2. Set Up Reminders
Once you have your goals in front of you, create checkpoints to hold yourself accountable. According to experts, goal-setting works best when you break down daunting resolutions into bite-sized tasks. You can parse out your goals by adding relevant calendar appointments or activating automatic reminders at an appropriate (and achievable) interval. For example, if you want to stop eating out for lunch, add 30 minutes to your calendar every evening to make your meal for the next day. Or if your goal is to spend less time on social media, set timers on your phone that will lock your apps after a certain amount of time. Even if you end up ignoring your reminder(s) on a particularly hectic day, the constant nudge helps to keep your goals top of mind so you can stay consistent in execution.
3. Tell Other People
It’s hard to keep yourself honest when life inevitably happens and your goals fall to the wayside. A key to staying motivated all year long is finding a support system who will keep you on track. This doesn’t mean you should corner your friends and force them to listen to all your dreams and desires. Instead, explain your goals in a casual but authentic way to a few people with whom you’ve built personal and professional relationships. I like to tell people who I see at different frequencies, and I’ve even found that people with whom I interact less regularly are more likely to bring up a goal I’ve mentioned in the past. However you do it, finding a community to support you in your goals will make the process a lot less daunting.
4. Add, Don’t Subtract
If your goals are starting to feel punitive or like they are detracting from your well-being, maybe it’s time to inverse your thinking. Instead of a goal being subtractive, make it additive. Here’s an example: If you want to eat healthier, focus on the yummy foods you get to enjoy more, not the sweets you’re giving up. Or, if you want to network more frequently but don’t feel like you have the time, commit to attending a happy hour on an evening you will already be out. If you’re meeting a friend for dinner, it’s a lot easier to add a networking event to your plans as opposed to feeling like a happy hour is taking away your personal time. Finding a way to make your goals constructive will make it easier to overcome the hurdles.
5. Give Yourself Grace
Let’s be real, sometimes we don’t meet our goals in the way we wanted to — but that doesn’t mean you failed. The reason we set goals in the first place is to become a better version of ourselves. If life gets in the way, give yourself the grace and flexibility you would afford anyone else. Also, don’t lose sight of all the good things you do accomplish. Even if it is not explicitly for a resolution, you should be proud of the projects you finish, the new friends you make, and the at-home projects you complete.
While I hope these tips help, they are not the only ways to achieve your goals. If you’re still struggling with your goal-setting for the year, be sure to join YNPNdc at our next Inner Circles event on February 5 where we will host a small group discussion about navigating burnout and fatigue with your goals. Sign up here.
Alex Budzynski
Alex is the Social Media and Content Manager for YNPNdc. A native Washingtonian, Alex loves exploring hole-in-the-wall restaurants, running around the National Mall, and performing classical music.