Strive to make monthly goals

So, how are your New Year’s resolutions going? I get to mid-January and my enthusiasm vanishes.  Ice cream looks so much better than salad. Outside snow (or rain) is falling. I don’t need to exercise today. My jeans still fit—do I really need to lose that holiday blubber?

According to a Scranton University study, even though 77 percent of resolution makers made it past the first week, only 19 percent kept their resolutions over a two-year period. The odds are not in your favor (or mine).

But don’t give up just yet. Of the successful 19 percent, over half of them admitted to slipping up on their goals.

Making realistic goals is hard. On Dec. 31st, I assume the next 24 hours will turn me into a superhero. I’ll be able to understand what it means to get in shape, eat healthy, and be a better person. Somehow, by repeating the same thing I tried for the last 365 days, this year I’ll do it. I make big, vague goals.

Big goals are a good starting point, but they aren’t helpful. Break down a New Year’s goal into baby steps. Ask yourself questions. What do you mean by “become a better person”? Next December, what do you want “a better person” to be like? What is the end point of your goal? Do you have specific steps to take toward that goal? Is there a book that could help you? Break down your goal into steps for each month or week. After a month is done, you can look back and see if you accomplished the first step.

Planning out an entire year can be intimidating. It’s also hard to anticipate the interests you have over the year. To combat this problem, I started making monthly goals.

Around the first of each month, I open up a new page in my planner, or pick a fresh index card. I put anything on this card that I want to do that month. I even put events that I am going to attend on the card. Every month is a fresh start, and there isn’t pressure to make big, life changing goals.

Sometimes I accomplish my goals, and sometimes I don’t. Each month I have a chance to refocus and change my goals. Monthly goal setting also reminds you to come back to your January goals in June. The gym is packed in January. Why not make working out a February or March goal?