Keeping Your Resolutions & Goals For 2019
By: Joseph Ellick
Black PR Wire
In high school, one of my greatest
passions was playing basketball. Dur-
ing my senior year, as the new season
approached, I noticed during the first
practice that our coach had the same
plays that we had been using in pre-
vious seasons. So I told him “coach I
think we should try different plays be-
cause it’s a new season.” He responded
with a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt that
I remember still today that says “With
each new day comes new strength
and thoughts,”- so there is no need to
change because of our growth each day
and year we automatically see things
different even if they are the same as
before.”
go ahead and make another change, as
time permits itself. By making small
changes one at a time, you still have the
chance to be a whole new you at the
end of the year and it’s a much more
realistic way of doing it.
Be Precise
Generalizing or being vague about
what you want to do leaves room for
procrastination and confusion at times.
You have to be precise in your action
to properly plan and map out your
strategy for the New Year. If you want
to lose weight, target a precise number
of pounds to shed, then set concrete
mini-goals and the dates on which
you aim to accomplish each of them.
Want to save money? Determine the
amount you will put aside each month
and identify explicit changes in behav-
ior you’ll make to get there, whether
that means skipping your afternoon
latte or carpooling to work to save on
fuel costs. Want to be more organized?
Single out what area you would like to
be more organized, whether its home,
job, or extracurricular hobbies.
Every New Year, people tend to re-
evaluate their past year and come to
the conclusion to reinvent themselves
completely and that makes it difficult
to not only set realistic resolutions and
goals but makes it even harder to keep
them. Don’t set yourself up for fail-
ure this year by vowing to make huge
changes that will be hard to keep. In-
stead, follow these steps for success-
fully making a new year’s resolution
and goals you can see through until Be Mentally Tough
the end.
Be mentally tough. Not every day is
going to be easy, the second you wake
One At A Time
up the battle begins against your old
An abundant amount of people’s reso- habits. Knowing this ahead of time will
lutions are to change their entire life- prepare you for when you are tempt-
style or life at once. It will never work. ed to break your resolution. Have the
Instead ask yourself, what is the one power to keep moving towards your
habit or goal that is most important goal, no matter what setbacks may oc-
to you? After you identify your top cur. There is a saying that states “When
resolution, continue to list in order of the going gets tough, get tougher,” and
importance then attack them one at a that is exactly what you have to do.
time. Make each goal something con-
crete so you know exactly what change
you’re planning to make. If you’re suc-
cessful with the first change, you can
Switch Your “Bad” Habits to
“Good” Habits
Don’t rely on willpower alone to help
you change, because even the strongest
person you know have their days. In-
stead, build in a healthy behavior that’s
incompatible with the one you want to
change. So if eating your usual midaft-
ernoon treat runs contrary to your goal
of dropping a few pounds, put together
a small like-minded group and commit
to taking a quick, brisk walk at your
normal snack time. Or if you want to
dedicate more time to write that book
you’ve been wanting to start for years
during the normal time you watch
television, take out your notebook and
jot down ideas. Eventually you will
turn the T.V. off completely and have
that novel half way done. Each time
you put the brakes on “bad” behavior,
you’ll increase your confidence in your
ability to make the change.
Be Determined Not To Fail.
No one but you can make your reso-
lution come true or last in your favor.
Choose not to let mistakes derail you,
take a day off every once in a while,
power through the tough times, and
drive toward your end result. Already
having a winning mindset goes a long
way. When you make the decision to
succeed, you leave no room to fail.
Keeping track of a resolution all year
long can be difficult, but only if you let
it. Over the years you may have already
made drastic changes in life that could
help cultivate your goals for 2019. The
important thing is to remember that
successfully changing your behavior
comes from the inside out. Accept that
it will take small steps in the right di-
rection to reach a positive outcome.