How to Make New Year’s Resolutions and Keep Them

I was invited to guest at ABS CBN’s PIE Channel late last year before 2022 ended. Our topic was how to make New Year’s Resolutions and how to make sure we get to keep them. This was for their show LIFE GURO wherein they invite experts to be their Life Guru (teacher or life coach) for the day.

I was grateful for this opportunity. I was recommended by the daughter of one of our friends from the chess community who is also a YouTuber.

Let me share through this blog post what I have shared in that interview. I will also expound some more since we didn’t have plenty of time to discuss this in greater detail due to time constraints.

3 Steps How to Make a New Year’s Resolution

Step 1: Review your priorities in life and anchor your resolution on one of your priorities.

This is a crucial first step. If you do not know your priorities or your priorities are unclear to you, work on that first. If your resolution is not anchored on your priorities, you are just wasting your time. Why will you make a resolution that is not important to you? Don’t just follow trends or do what others are doing. You have to make your resolutions personal. You need to own them.

Step 2: Make your resolution S.M.A.R.T.

S – specific

M – measurable

A – attainable

R – relevant

T – timebound

There is power in making your resolution as specific as possible. It has to be clear and simple and specific so that you can be easily reminded of what it is. If it is vague, you will not easily recognize or remember what your resolution is.

You need to measure the results or progress related to your resolution. That way, you will know if you are able to keep it or not.

Be realistic when setting your New Year’s Resolutions. First, evaluate where you are at the start of the year or last year. Then, knowing that, set your goal or New Year’s resolution for this year. It should not be too far from where you are now. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up to fail.

Is your resolution relevant to your life right now or this year? If your resolution is not relevant to you or your life, chances are, you will not be committed to it in the long run. The probability is high that you will forget it soon or you will not be motivated enough to work hard to achieve it.

You need to set the time when you will check your progress or milestones related to your resolutions. Can you measure the progress or results at least weekly, monthly, or quarterly?

Step 3: Limit your resolutions to 1 or not more than 3. This will help you focus and make sure that you will be able to keep it. The more resolutions you come up with, the lower will be the probability that you will achieve them. We have limited time, energy, and resources. This is one way of being realistic and setting yourself up for success. If you only have 1 resolution, you can channel all your time, resources, and energy to that one resolution.

Now that I shared with you the steps, I will share some tips to help you keep your resolutions.

Tips on How to Keep Your Resolutions

Monitor your progress or results regularly. You will not know if you are able to live out your resolution or not if you will not monitor your results.
Persevere. Keep at it. If you fail one day, try again the next day. Don’t give up.
Be flexible. Adjust your resolutions if necessary. Sometimes, we become overly confident or there are things that happen along the way that are beyond our control. When these things happen, we can adjust our resolutions. Remember that they are not cast in stone. Always remind yourself of your priorities and make adjustments based on your priorities.
Celebrate your wins or milestones along the way. By doing this, you keep yourself motivated by rewarding yourself as you move closer to achieving your New Year’s resolution/s.

You may watch this episode on PIE Channel’s YouTube. The recording was divided into 3 parts. Just click on the links. The bulk of my guesting is in Part 2.

Part 1 Life Guru December 28, 2022 Episode

Part 2 Life Guru December 28, 2022 Episode

Part 3 Life Guru December 28, 2022 Episode

There you have it! I hope these steps and tips would help you craft your 2023 New Year’s resolutions! It’s not yet too late to do this now. We are still in the first month of the new year.

Once you have yours, feel free to go back here and share your resolution or resolutions in the comments of this post.

I wish you a great and successful year ahead!