Get back on track with your New Year’s goals

Photo Illustration: Valerie Cheatham, Photo Editor, @valeriecheatham

You were just putting a list of New Year’s resolutions together. One month down and chances are those resolutions have already been broken. It’s not too late to pick them back up.

You can take steps to help you successfully reach your goals. It’s important that you are setting up a plan, taking action, reaching out to others, setting up a time line and evaluating your progress

The first step is to plan. Evaluate where you are in life. Write down short term goals for the week, month or year, as well as long term goals. Seeing your goals on paper can help you create a time line of what steps you’ll need to take to achieve that goal.

Once you have your goals written down, it’s time to take action. Expound on those goals. Keep a daily journal. Start your day by thinking and writing down two or three things you want to accomplish during that day. Those things should help you work toward your main goals.

If you have a goal to lose weight and be healthy, schedule time in your day to exercise. Write down and plan your meals.

Keeping a journal will help you be accountable. Write down the things you did well and the things you can work on for the next day. By succeeding daily in those two or three things, you’re creating a habit. Habits help you reach those goals more easily.

You can’t reach the finish line if you can’t see the track to get there. While writing in your journal, set up
a time line and a deadline. Evaluate yourself once a week or once a month. See if you are where you want to be. If not, look at the previous steps you’ve taken and change your course.

Communicate with those around you. You may have friends or family members working on the same goal. If that’s the case, hold each other accountable. If your friend has a goal to exercise and be healthy, attend the gym together.

If you mess up, don’t say that you’ll start over on Monday. Start from the moment you fall. Pick yourself up. You can’t reach your goals if you don’t have the right mindset.

Keep what you want to accomplish in perspective. If you have the end
in sight, it will be easier to take the steps to get there. If you are thinking positively and have a good outlook on your goals, you won’t stop until you reach them.

Upon evaluation, see what went right and what went wrong. Continue to do the things that went right. Get rid of habits or things that went wrong. Set up a list of new goals based on your findings.

You should never stop improving yourself. As you reach and maintain your goals, reward yourself, stay on the right track and keep up the good work. It’s never too late to start reaching for the new you.