Not too late to achieve New Year's resolutions

Summer Crosby

Two weeks into the New Year, most of us have probably already broken one or more of our New Year’s resolutions. Whether the plan was to give up a can of pop or improve the current financial situation in our lives, Nancy Smith, of Choices for Change Counseling, says that if you’ve already taken a step backwards, it’s not too late to continue moving forward. She said that you shouldn’t let yourself slip into thinking that you’ve failed because failure only comes when you stop trying.

“You should expect that you’re going to break your resolutions,” Smith said. “Failure is just not getting up and not trying again. You’re going to take one step back, but then it will be two steps forwards so you’ll have made progress. You’re going to slip, but you just have to keep moving forward afterwards.”

Smith said that often the reason individuals find themselves failing is because the resolutions that people make are not realistic for them. In consequence, they are setting themselves up for failure before they even began.

“You need to make your goals realistic and doable in order to have confidence and stay involved. You have to be able to measure the results so you’ll be encouraged to continue,” Smith said. “It needs to be something that’s obtainable.”

Smith said that to accomplish New Year’s resolutions, you need to plan ahead. A goal is not a simple as saying, “I want to lose weight this year.” How much weight do you want you want to lose? What steps are you going to take to get there? Once you’re there, how are you planning to keep the weight off?

Smith said that long term goals need to have a series of short term goals that in the end, will lead to the accomplishment of the long term goal. Often times, goals, such as New Year’s resolutions are created because an individual is “sick and tired of being sick and tired” of the way things were last year.

“I think probably you need to take inventory of the way things are now and start looking at what daily activities are working and what is not working,” she said. “Then you need to separate them out to make room for things that will move you forward. When you take inventory and decide what you want to modify sit down and figure out a plan. And it has to be something that fits with your values. If we violate our own values, we don’t feel good, but sometimes we continue to do it anyway. Take an inventory of your values and find out what is missing that you need to keep you on track and moving forward.”

Smith also said that negative behaviors have negative consequences. She said if you aren’t moving ahead with positive consequences, modify your behavior and refrain from what you’re doing so you’ll experience positive results, which will encourage you. She said it is important to know what to say yes to and what to say no to.

Finally, she said that it is never too late in the year to make goals. She said that New Year’s resolutions are popular because people are often thinking of “the newness of things.” However, anytime during the year is an optimal time for positive change. Smith said that at the end of the day, the most important thing is to be happy with who you are and to love who you see in the mirror.

It’s only a few weeks into January after all, so with most of the year still to come it’s not too late to late if you need to reevaluate your resolutions or broken them even. There’s still plenty of time to change.