By: Rachael Bannen 

Welcome 2024 and kickstart your resolutions! 

I’m sure many people are scratching their heads wondering how we already ended up in 2024. But hey, since we are here it’s time to kickstart those resolutions for the new year. It can be very difficult to stick to your resolutions through the new year once the celebration high wears off. For example, have you ever tried working out during January? Get ready for long waits to use your favorite machine, but yet come February, things are pretty much back to normal. How can you help yourself be someone who stays hitting the gym year-round or accomplishing whatever your resolution is? Instead of being the person who buys the trial discounted membership in January and never returns after, I may have some tips to help you that have helped me stick to goals and these work as well just for general life tasks.

1. Write them all down. 

Letting so many tasks, to-dos, goals and more flying around in our head can make it nearly impossible to even start a single one. Writing down your goals onto paper can really help you keep your goals on the forefront of your mind through visualizing them. Plus, you can put your goals in a place you see every day as

a reminder to take another step or stay on track each day.

2. Break Down Larger Goals Into Smaller Ones 

This is my personal favorite way to accomplish goals and tasks. Large goals can be VERY overwhelming to approach and get started, sometimes so daunting we never even bother. Breaking down those larger goals into smaller ones, can make the whole thing feel more attainable. You have now created your own manageable tasks to handle one at a time.

3. Be Realistic 

This is crucial when setting goals for ourselves. Before finalizing and setting your personal goals,

take a moment to consider, Can I do this? Setting unachievable goals leaves only room for frustration, disappointment and won’t get you very far. We owe it to ourselves to set goals for ourselves that we can achieve and feel the satisfaction of accomplishing that goal.

4. Celebrate Victories! 

This is a must throughout the journey to the end of your goals. Celebrate your achievements along the way. There is no accomplishment too big or too small, progress is simply progress. You deserve to celebrate yourself even over the small accomplishments, and look forward to the next step.

5. Give yourself time, but not too much of it. 

Time can be a huge factor on how realistic our goals truly are. You need to realistically give yourself the amount of time you could achieve your goals or steps within them. To counteract this though, you can’t give yourself too much time. This can cause procrastination or letting the end goals slip away from us. Overall, giving yourself time will keep end-goals insight and also help you to hold yourself accountable to achieving your goals.