Keeping New Year Resolutions

Keeping your New Year Resolutions going past the first couple of months is hard. You always start off with the best intentions, but by March have you usually completely given up on your goal? Join the club. Below are four of the most common New Year’s resolutions out there and why they always seem to go wrong!

Get Fit/Join a Gym

There is a reason why gyms across Australia are always the busiest in January. We all say that we will join a gym and this is the year that we will lose the weight, get toned and get back to an acceptable fitness level. However, then by February, the motivation is gone. Why? One of the problems is that gyms are simply too busy at the beginning of the year. When you do decide to go to gym, you may have trouble even finding a treadmill or getting a spot for your kids in creche  This is because everyone else has the same idea as you. Wait a few months before joining a gym and you will have better luck actually succeeding. Or, start with something a little less intense and intimidating, such as walking or going for a jog at night to get your body back into the swing of exercise.

Lost Weight by Eating Right

This is similar to getting fit and joining a gym but usually relates to eating smarter. You may even join a weight loss program to get you into gear. One of the biggest reasons why this doesn’t seem to work is that it can be too expensive and, again, hard to keep such a drastic change. When you are used to eating certain unhealthy foods, it’s not going to be easy to give it all up. You may find that you are relapsing back into bad habits more often and then pushing the diet out the door altogether. Instead, aim to eat right most of the time. Give yourself a cheat day, get takeaway once and a while and indulge in low fat ice cream after those rough days. As long as you are eating well most of the time, the weight will come off and your New Year’s resolution to eat better will become more of a habit rather than a chore.

Get on Top of your Finances

Wouldn’t it be great if this was the year that you did nothing but save money and get out of the red? It is probably not going to happen even if you vow that it will. Instead, sit down with your partner at the end of the year and make a realistic spreadsheet of how much you can save and how much you will spend, keeping all costs in mind, from a new car to a family holiday. Make sure you put a little away for an emergency fund which can make it more likely that you will reach your yearly financial goals even if the best laid plans go a little astray.

Get Organised

Does it feel like there is so much going on in your life that you simply can’t stay on top of it all? Vowing to get more organised this year sounds great in theory but it’s a little too vague. You need to instead focus on more direct goals and break down this quite monstrous task into smaller plans. Getting organised around the house, for example, can require a complete spring clean and declutter. Start by making a list of the various things you want to organise in your life and aim to tackle one job per month. That way you will not burn out.