“With anything that we do in life, it’s a good idea to have things written down that we can track over time,” said Dr. Marcelo Campos, a primary care doctor at Harvard Vanguard and lecturer at Harvard Medical School. “It’s almost like a commitment that you have toward what you want to achieve.”
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Campos and other experts stress the importance of spending the remaining few days before the calendar turns to 2018 planning what you want to accomplish in the new year.
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Simply making a New Year’s resolution is a step toward success, according to research conducted by Dr. John Norcross, a psychology professor at the University of Scranton and the author of “Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions.”
Norcross’ research found that people are 10 times more likely to make a change by declaring a New Year’s resolution compared to “non-resolvers.”
He also found that, contrary to public opinion, not all New Year’s resolutions are destined for failure, with nearly 44 percent of people finding success six months into the new year.
How do you make it into that 44 percent who find success? Campos said taking time to answer five questions before declaring your New Year’s resolution can help keep you on track through the next year.
Read below for Campos’ five questions, along with New Year’s resolution advice from Campos and other experts.
1. What is your 'why'?
Experts say to look deep inside yourself to find the change that you really want to make in the new year.
"The idea is to try to find something that is really important to you and that motivates you and that you really want to change, not because you have to change," Campos said. "We all know that we have to move and to exercise, so why you want to exercise and what you want to achieve with that, that’s the better question."
Rebecca Scritchfield, a dietitian and the author of "Body Kindness," said that when making a New Year's resolution about health, finding your "why" includes getting rid of guilt leftover from the holiday season.
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"We likely take a break from exercise and we eat differently and our inner fear or critic can increase," she said. "The shift comes from seeing that this is not about fear."
She continued, "Giving yourself a chance to have some time off for the holidays and ease back into the new year is when you’re going to hit a resolution plan that is going to stick and will actually be fueled by joy instead of shame."
2. What are your measurable goals?
A goal to just lose weight or save money is not specific enough to keep you on track, according to Campos.
"It’s very important for you to be specific and have goals that you can measure and achieve in a short period of time," he said. "Ideally the goal setting is a matter of days or weeks to see if it’s really feasible for you or if you do have to adjust those goals."
Staying on track to reach your goals also means being flexible with them, Campos said, noting that "life changes all the time and you have to adapt."
Scritchfield suggests setting yourself up for success by asking yourself what the least amount of effort is that you can give and still succeed.
"It may be just taking the dog on a 10-minute walk," she said. "Doing that and seeing it as a success is likely going to lead to, ‘I can go to the gym.’"
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