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Your #Career : 6 Ways To Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick In 2016… No One Wants to Attempt a Positive Change in His or Her Life, Only to Dump His or Her Goal in a few Short Weeks. But 24% of People Fail to Keep their Resolutions every Year

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As a new year approaches and you contemplate becoming part of the 45% of Americans who usually set New Year’s resolutions, you can either set yourself up for success or failure. No one wants to attempt a positive change in his or her life, only to dump his or her goal in a few short weeks. But 24% of people fail to keep their resolutions every year.

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I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to join the ranks of people who celebrate January 17 as “Dump Your Resolutions Day.”

It doesn’t have to be that way. You can actually use the start of a new year to make significant changes that can make a lasting impact on your life.

Here are six ways to achieve your New Year’s resolutions in 2016:

Set short-term goals.

Maybe we should choose “New Month’s Resolutions” every 30 or 31 days instead of New Year’s resolutions once a year. Try breaking down a larger goal into shorter periods of time.

Why not shorten the timing of your resolution to what suits your particular goal rather than something that fits neatly on the calendar?

Write down your goals and share them with a friend (or two)

In a study on goal-setting at the Dominican University of California, one group of study participants wrote their goals down, broke them into action steps, and shared them with friends.

This group’s success rate was high — 62% had achieved their goals or were halfway there, compared to the 43% who only thought deeply about the goals and rated their difficulty and importance. Taking it a step further, of the goal-setters who did all of the above but also sent weekly updates to a friend, 76% were at least halfway to achieving their goals.

Consider keeping a journal with your goals for 2016 and reviewing them weekly. Enlist the support of friends or colleagues, share your plans with them, get feedback and meet at regular intervals to share your progress.

 

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Create momentum.

Knock off a few important steps early in the process.

For example, say your resolution is to get on track for retirement. If you have a pretty good idea that you are behind in your savings, don’t wait until you have completed an exhaustive and thorough analysis. Bump up your contributions right away — even if it’s only a little bit.

Pick your game-changer.

What is the most important action you can take this month to meet your goal?What’s one thing you could accomplish that would make or break a successful outcome? Focus your time and energy on this aspect of your goal.

For example, some friends of mine who are in their mid-30s live in California, and their careers (and incomes) are taking off. Their tax bill is following suit, so they called me to ask for help in finding ways to reduce their taxes. A game-changing New Year’s resolution for them would be to become tax savvy in order to reduce their income taxes this year and going forward.

Some steps they might take:

Meet with a financial advisor early in the year.

Hire an accountant instead of doing their taxes themselves.

Defer the maximum they can in their retirement plans.

Set up a receipt file and save every receipt related to taxes.

Determine a charitable giving strategy to maximize their deductions.

What action can you take in 2016 that would be a game-changer?

Get some skin in the game.

Sometimes changing behavior can be challenging. It’s simple in theory, but when the rubber hits the road, we can easily fall back on old bad habits. Light a fire under your goals to make yourself accountable for what you really want to accomplish.

Consider using negative consequences when you don’t complete the action steps you’ve committed to.

For example, a few years ago my friend Dianne and I set fitness goals that we simply weren’t reaching, even though we tried month after month to complete them. So we decided to put some skin in the game in a creative way.

We each wrote checks to causes we abhor, post-dated at the end of the month, and handed them to each other. If we didn’t complete the promised actions, the partner would mail the check to the cause we detested!

Guess what? I always seemed to find the time to complete the action steps. I even did it with a smile, because I sure didn’t want my hard-earned money going to that particular cause! Be sure to only sign up for a goal you are truly committed to, or you might have to write that check! This exercise can be a great test of commitment.

Nudge yourself.

A little reminder can go a long way — especially when you remind yourself why you want to accomplish this goal . Skip “Dump Your Resolutions Day” and simply set up reminders to encourage yourself to stick with it.

Use the calendar on your smartphone or work computer. Set a recurring reminder or appointment to review your progress toward your goal.

Ask others to remind you to check in and do the same for them. Set up a private group on Facebook, use a group Google Docs goal sheet, or sign up for an app like MyFitnessPal that is meant for group interaction and reminders. Encourage each other to stick with your promises to yourselves.

A financial planning colleague of mine in Florida and I set up a monthly call to review our goals, share ideas, and support each other. This works because of the collaborative element as well as having a recurring appointment on the calendar that I prioritize and prepare for. Sometimes it’s just that simple.

The New Year is a time to hope and dream and to make those dreams a reality, but it takes work. You can set yourself up for success by starting early, setting up realistic action steps, and engaging supportive people so 2016 becomes a year of great accomplishments for you.

Nancy L. Anderson, CFP is a financial planner in Park City, Utah. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter as well on the Official blog of Deer Valley Ski Resort.

 

Forbes.com | December 26, 2015 | Nancy Anderson