How to set New Year's resolutions?

Arriving at the first days of January with New Year's resolutions has become a kind of widespread ritual in Western societies. However, from the intention to the fact there is a big jump and not everyone knows how to deal with it.

In fact, New Year's resolutions have very little validity if we limit ourselves to wanting to reach those goals and do not set them head on. And it is that, unfortunately, many people confuse the simple fact of thinking about what they would like to achieve with the fact of taking the necessary steps to achieve those goals.

The belief that "visualizing" what we want causes these experiences to "come" to us as if a universal law was responsible for attracting the facts to the intentions is as popular as it is sterile and ineffective. Actually, missing new years resolutions is the norm.

But this does not mean that most people are predestined to fail in their attempts to improve aspects of their private lives or careers; Simply, resources are needed to take advantage of that motivational “push” that the beginning of a new year supposes.

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What to do when making New Year's resolutions?

Below I will give you several psychological tips to properly manage New Year's resolutions, dividing them into two blocks.

The first of them, to which this section corresponds, is dedicated to the initial moment in which you consider the resolutions for the year that begins, and the second is aimed at monitoring and fulfilling those purposes in the first weeks of January and February, the key moment in which these changes in habits and routines may or may not be consolidated (after all, starting is the most complicated).

With that said, let's look at the strategies and guidelines to follow in outlining New Year's resolutions.

1. Goals must be achievable

The idea that goals should always be more ambitious than the actual result to be achieved is totally counterproductive: it just makes people frustrated when verifying that they do not have the capacity to reach those objectives.

When considering what you want to achieve, you must take stock of what you would like and the skills and resources you have, so that it is easier for you to really commit to that project.

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2. Goals must fit with your values

If what you propose is not consistent with the values ​​that constitute your ethical scale, it is most likely that in a short time you will lose motivation or even be able to enjoy your progress.

• Related article: "The 10 types of values: principles that govern our lives"

3. You must establish easy-to-measure evaluation criteria

You should not stay in abstract ideas about what you want to achieve. Reaching a good level of precision and detail will allow you to be able to assess your progress and correct mistakes as you go along and, on the other hand, to feel good when you see that you are making progress.

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4. The set of New Year's resolutions must be consistent

Finally, you should keep in mind that if you just make New Year's resolutions without seeing them as a whole, it is possible that some will hinder the progress of others. Make sure they all “fit” with each other both in terms of time and resources needed to achieve your goals.

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What to do to apply the New Year's resolutions in practice

Once the new year has begun, follow these tips to make applying them easier.

1. Set clear hours

If you plan your schedules also taking into account the moments of rest and the hours dedicated to sleep, you will not expose yourself so much to the temptation to procrastinate and not start doing what you had proposed. If possible, print the schedule on paper and hang it on the fridge or in another place in the house that you see often.

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2. Tell your friends and family about your New Year's resolutions

If you go explaining to them that you have started a new habit, project or lifestyle, the fact that they know it and ask you about it from time to time It will be an element of motivation that will be added to the desire you already have to achieve your goal..

3. Link a space and a moment to your new routines

For example, visualize the fact that after brushing your teeth at night you will leave the bathroom. bathroom and sit at your desk to memorize a page of vocabulary in a language you are studying. Thus, every day what you should do in each situation will automatically come to mind.

• Related article: "How to generate new healthy habits?"

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I am a psychologist federated by the FEAP (Spanish Federation of Associations of Psychotherapists) and I attend adults and adolescents both online and in person at my office in Seville.