Don’t ditch your resolutions – make them work for you
Published Jan 17 2020 11:09 AM 11.6K Views
Microsoft

How to stick to your resolutionsHow to stick to your resolutions

Did you know that January 17th has been designated as the day you're likely to ditch your New Year’s resolutions? We’re here to say “STOP, don’t do it! But also, can we please make them better? Whether your resolutions are to walk more, to start a new hobby, or to get that dream project off the ground, we’re here for you. It’s time to get serious. Here are our top tips for sticking to those resolutions beyond January 17th. As they say, a goal without a plan is just a wish. Let’s make 2020 the year we stop wishing and start planning.  

 

Break goals down into bite-sized chunks 

Let’s pick starting a new hobby. What does your end goal look like? If it’s to write three times a week, then you can set up a recurring task to repeat on the days you’d like to write. If the end goal is to prepare for a big event, like a book reading or novel launch, use steps to break that mammoth task down into smaller tasks. And, don’t forget to add all the logistics like “register for book reading” in there too.  

 

Break that write a book goal into smaller chunksBreak that write a book goal into smaller chunks

Make SMART tasks 

Once you break those tasks into smaller chunks, you can implement the idea of SMART tasks – make them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. Be honest with yourself about how much time you can commit to each goal. Then, set due dates and make sure you can track your progress.  

 

Give yourself room for failure

Taken a trip at the first hurdle and now you feel like you might as well give up? Don’t be so hard on yourself. Changing your habits aren’t easy and you can’t expect it to happen straight away. You might be trying to eat out less to save money, but you’re out of food and the shops are closed. Don’t worry about it – you can try again tomorrow. Give yourself some wiggle room. You can even plan it in. Give yourself some cheat passes each month. If you don’t feel like sticking to that resolution today, then tick off one of those cheat passes.  

 

Plan to failPlan to fail

Acknowledge that change takes time 

Perhaps we should call them New Year’s evolutions, not resolutions. Are you an introvert who’s decided to meet more people this year? Starting right away with a plan to go out every night and talk to 5 new people will quickly lead to burnout. Set yourself weekly or monthly incremental goals. Start with a goal of going for lunch with one new colleague each week. Once you’re comfortable with that, start on the next goal, stretching yourself a little more each time.  

 

Make incremental goalsMake incremental goals

Give yourself visual reminders

If your resolution is to save money for the vacation of a lifetimechange the background of your list to reflect it or add a related emoji to the beginning of your list. Give yourself visual reminders. You can also associate each money-saving accomplishment with checking off a new goal for that vacation. “When I’ve saved $100, I can research exactly where I want to go.” Plan in small treats each time you hit a new milestone to celebrate the small wins.  

 

Give yourself a visual reminderGive yourself a visual reminder

On a side note, did you know that having clear weekly meal plans and set grocery lists that you don’t deviate from have both been proven to save money? That, and never going to the supermarket hungry, of course. 

 

Accountability buddy 

Finally, don’t do it alone. Get an accountability buddy for each area you want to work on. Telling someone else your goal has been shown to increase the likelihood of sticking with it. So have a think about who you’d like as your accountability buddy. We’ll talk more about accountability buddies in a future post.  

That’s it from us. Here are a couple of tips from over on Twitter. 

 

Have a tip to add? Let us know in the comments or over on Twitter or Facebook.  

3 Comments

These features are awesome!

Silver Contributor

3 months with no updates here. Maybe To Do is not a priority anymore? Although, on web version i see a bar that asks to refresh because of a new version quite often and yet for a few months there is a bug, that makes all steps text truncated until you click on some other task and back. Happens all the time when you switch to another view (Tasks, My day, Important, etc.). This is so unbelievable frustrating and yet not being addressed with so many updates to web version. I'm starting to fear someone thought this could be a cool feature to make steps unreadable..

Silver Contributor

Today suddenly To Do icon in web version turned to Outlook icon.

 

Nevermind. Today tried to go through other apps in corner menu of To do and back to To do and the icon changed back to check mark. Caching quirk.

:)

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‎Jan 17 2020 11:54 AM
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