Determined to keep your 2023 resolutions? … Past just January?

Experts outline achievement: resolutions to reality

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Do you have lofty New Year’s Resolutions once again… but this year, you’re determined to keep your momentum rolling past just January?

Two local mental health specialists say setting a goal is a great start, but it’s not enough. Licensed mental health therapist Hillary Bacon advises you to meditate on your ‘Why?’. Be intentional behind your motive.

“Mindfulness,” Bacon summarized the key to successful resolutions. ” I think we move through our lives and not very mindful about what we’re doing, when we’re doing it, and why we’re doing it. So, we have this big goal in mind, but we are not being mindful about it at all. You’re kind of setting yourself up for failure to be honest.”

When you are goal-setting, make a roadmap to ensure your resolution becomes your reality.

“You can measure progress in smaller increments versus just towards, ‘Am I reaching this one big goal? I don’t know.’ But if you have the smaller increments, you can check those off along the way,” explained Bacon. “Then hopefully reach your bigger goal in a more attainable way.”

“You have to stair-step things,” added Mental Mettle Coaching owner and life coach Matt Thomann. “So, that means you have these small, reachable goals that you celebrate. That helps you build your confidence so you don’t feel like you’re failing all the time, and instead, you feel like you’re achieving things, a little bit at a time.”

Also, as simple as it sounds, don’t knock psychology 101. Repeat your goals to yourself in positive wording.

“The human brain doesn’t do very well with negativity,” informed Thomann. “If you’re a golfer and you say, ‘I’m not gonna slice. I’m not gonna slice. I’m not gonna slice,’ you’re probably going to slice. So changing your mindset around it and making sure your resolutions are switched to positive and stated that way is very useful.”

Additionally, when it comes to these kind of long-term goals, immediate gratification is the thief of joy. Be patient.

Thomann challenges his clients with the question, “‘What are you excited to fail at this year?’ You have to be OK to fail. You have to be looking for things to fail at. Failure is the only way to get better.”

Finally, remember good things come to those who persist.

Bacon concludes, “We want to see change, and we want to see it immediately. We feel like if we don’t see it immediately, our efforts weren’t worth it, and they didn’t amount to anything. It’s kind of thinking in an extreme, right? So, look at more of what you can do to set yourself up for true success.”