Six Tips for Staying on Track in the New Year

Six Tips for Staying on Track in the New Year

The new year is already well underway, and it’s time to check in on those resolutions you felt oh-so-confident about when you made them on December 31st. To ensure you don’t fall off the resolution train altogether, take some time to reassess your resolutions and formulate a plan to get back or stay on track. Here, we’ve rounded up some tips to help you achieve your goals and stay healthy and active in 2023.

Be Realistic

Setting the bar high is great, but it’s also important to be realistic. If your New Year’s resolution is to surf Mavericks but you’ve never ridden a wave over five feet, it might not be the best goal for this year. Take a step back and re-examine your resolutions. If necessary, tweak them so that they are realistic. You want to set yourself up for success with goals that are actually attainable. Challenging yourself is great; impossible standards are not.

Create Your Why

It’s good to have resolutions that have a reason behind them. If your goal this year is to compete in your first stand-up paddle race, ask yourself why. Are you trying to get in better shape? Are you looking to experience something new? Are you working to get faster? If you have a reason behind your resolution, it makes it easier to stay inspired and stick to it.

Form a Plan

Having a detail-oriented plan to work toward your goal can be extremely helpful. If you’re looking to compete in a six-mile race but the furthest you’ve ever paddled is one mile, it can feel a bit overwhelming. But if you create a plan with baby steps toward achieving your goal, it helps make it feel much more attainable.

If you already created a plan at the beginning of the year but have fallen off of it, don’t stress. 2023 has just begun—you still have plenty of time to catch up and get back on track. Or, if the plan you drew up was too ambitious, create a new one with more reasonable mini-goals en route to achieving your big goal.

Have a Deadline

When creating a goal, having a deadline is critical. If the goal is open-ended, it’s too easy to put it off. A deadline keeps you accountable and gives you a specific time frame to work with. If your goal is a race, sign up and you’ll already have a built-in deadline. But if it’s something looser, like “do a five-minute plank,” choose a date by which you hope to achieve your goal.

Reward Yourself

As you work toward your goal, it’s important to celebrate your progress. You can reward yourself however you choose, but make sure it’s not in a way that contradicts your goal. Simple ways to celebrate are to share your achievement with a friend, write down your progress, or do something silly, like buying a new sticker for your board.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

Goals are great, but they shouldn’t be a source of stress; it’s important to be gentle with yourself. If you fall off your plan or miss a deadline, that’s okay. Take a step back, reassess, and do your best to get back on track.

Sometimes, the goals we set can be difficult to achieve, and they will have to carry over into the following year. As long as you are trying, making progress, and becoming a better version of yourself, then you are doing great.