Emerald Coast New Year’s Resolutions: to keep them or not to keep them partway into the year.

Anyone who has lived to cross into January on the Emerald Coast has heard about New Year’s resolutions swirling around them like crazy. Are they good or just the thing to do? Is there a way to keep them (especially past the first week)? All these and more are the kind of questions that you may be wondering about right now.

Finding a way to keep a resolution may very well be the wrong question

What if you went about it differently? In a manner that gave you control even when something doesn’t go quite right. Instead, make a choice or goal to accomplish something this year. In so doing, you now do not ruin a resolution when you don’t follow the plan perfectly all the time.

Find an accountability partner

Remember to make yourself accountable to someone (who is willing to hold you to it). Accountability is probably one of the most important steps to reaching your goal. On those long days when you really don’t want to put in the work to learn that new skill or maybe want that extra serving of dessert, your accountability partner is there to tell you like it is and to help you stay on track.

New Year or All year

Do not consider it a New Year resolution but rather a goal for the whole year. Thinking this way enables you to set aside the time it may take to accomplish said goal. That way when April rolls around and you haven’t been to the gym since January 20^th it is okay because the whole year is not past and you have time to get back at it and succeed.

Staying out of the same old rut

Try not to get stuck in the same rut of choices just because they are the ones that you hear other people using. Any area of your life that you want to make a change in is fair game. Want to stick to a budget, get out of debt or learn a new skill? These are all goals that you can set for yourself this year allowing your life to move forward in the manner that you desire.

Success is all in your mind, so, move forward this year

In all the excitement of a fresh start don’t set yourself up to fail needlessly. That way when you do fail sometimes you can get up, dust yourself off and move ahead again towards your goal. Remember every success is just stepping from one failure to the next as long as it is always forward.