What To Do if You’ve Wrecked Your New Year’s Resolution

We’re officially 1/6 through 2018 and are heading towards the 1/3 mark! We have most of 2018 ahead of us, which is great if you made a New Year’s resolution and didn’t stick to it because there’s still plenty of time in the year to work on that resolution and accomplish it by 2019. If you’re one of the millions who wrecked your resolution, don’t worry! If you really wanted to stick to it, you can try again. Today I’m sharing what to do if you’re in this situation. In fact, I’m sharing 2 different plans for getting back on that resolution horse.

Oh, and in addition to my tips in this post, Tiffany from Endless Bliss has written a post about this, too! We both published posts about this today (on purpose), so you get double the tips. After you read this post, go check out hers!

Plan A

Evaluate why it fell through – This is a really important step. Why did it not work? Was it too overwhelming of a change? Did something big happen in your life and it prevented you from keeping your resolution? Basically, you need to know what it didn’t work. Otherwise, you can’t expect yourself to be able to just try again and expect it to all work this time around.

Make a plan – I’m sure this will come as a shock (sarcasm), but I’m big on planning. I do think that this is something that everyone should do for all New Year’s resolutions, whether you’re doing it the first time around or the second. But, in my opinion, it’s extra important for the second time around. If you’re trying a resolution for the second time, you clearly want to make it work after failing at it the first time. So make a plan! If you want to eat healthier, decide what that means to you, find healthy recipes, and decide what days you’re going to make those recipes. If you want to exercise more, pick a type of exercise, decide what days you’re going to exercise, and make appointments with yourself. If you want to procrastinate less, figure out how you’re going to do that and check out sites or apps to help you do this. You get the idea.

Create accountability – If you’re the only one who knows that you’re doing this, no one will know if you don’t follow through. If someone knows, then you will feel like you have to at least try. Tell your partner, your sibling, your roommate, your Twitter followers, etc. Even if they forget about it, you will feel like you have to stick with it, at least for a little bit. 

Decide on a start date – This can be tricky because it’s easy to say, “I’ll start on Monday” on a Wednesday and then on that Monday say, “Well, I’ll start next Monday,” on repeat. But try to pick a day to start and actually start on that day. Picking a day to start basically helps you be prepared so, if you want to eat healthier, you don’t start on a day when you don’t have much healthy food.

Stick to the plan – Of course, a plan only helps if you follow it. Work hard to follow the plan, especially on the first couple of weeks, so you get used to your life with the resolution. If I’m remembering my education professors correctly, you have to do a thing 21 times before it becomes a habit. Keep in mind that this might be difficult to do for the first couple of days and weeks but eventually it won’t be; it’ll be second nature.

Plan B

Evaluate why it fell through – This is the option for if you picked a resolution that was maybe too difficult. Maybe you can tell right now that it was too difficult to stick with, maybe you need to think about it more. Like with Plan A, you need to ask yourself some questions: Why did it not work? Was it too overwhelming of a change? Did you try to make too large of a change? Figure out why this resolution was too difficult.

Decide on a more achievable resolution – Then, try to choose a resolution that you are more likely to be able to stick to. Let’s say your resolution was to work out five days a week. This time, try to work out three days a week. Maybe yours was to eat healthier. This time, try to eat one balanced meal every day. If your resolution was spend less time on social media, give yourself a time limit for social media use.

Try again! – Now that you’ve chosen a new resolution, follow some of the steps from Plan A. Make a plan, create accountability for yourself, decide on a start date, and stick to the plan.

Remember: This is a collaborative post!

Tiffany wrote her own post about this over on her blog. Go check it out!

Go read her post!

Tiffany Khyla is a full-time hotel social media marketer and a part-time blogger at Endless Bliss, a happy lifestyle and entertainment blog for wanderers, dreamers and happiness seekers. On Endless Bliss, she shares her tales of working on a cruise ship, the ups-and-downs of living the Air Force lifestyle and her obsession with Harry Potter. She’s an ESFJ Sagittarius with a passion for people, exploring new places and getting lost in a good book. When she’s not busy behind a computer screen, you can find her singing along to every Taylor Swift song, stuffing her face with sushi or sipping on a glass of Cabernet.

What are your tips for sticking to a goal?

Like this post? Check out:

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