If you are making New Year’s resolutions, you may not know that you are participating in a 4,000 year old tradition. The ancient Babylonians rang in the New Year with an 11-day festival when they made promises to the gods hoping that their deities would favor them in the coming year. While it is not known how many Babylonians lived up to their New Year’s promises, in the modern world we know that we struggle to keep our resolutions for more than few weeks.
Improve Your Odds of Keeping Your Resolutions by Following These Simple Tips
- Keep your resolutions simple. Don’t try to overhaul your entire life. Pick one to three of your most important goals for 2020.
- Break your goals down into manageable and specific chunks. Rather than just pledging to be healthier instead say “I’m going to lose 10 pounds”, or “I’ll workout at the gym three times a week.”
- Enlist help and support. Share your resolutions to those around you who are close to you. Their encouragement will help bolster your resolve.
- Don’t wait until 11:59 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. To reach any goal it takes some planning. If you devote some time to thinking about your resolutions and how you to achieve your goals, you will have a leg up.
- Write them down. You stand a better chance of succeeding if you not only put your goals down on a written page, but if you make a list of how you might achieve your resolutions and what obstacles might stand in your way.