Five steps to sticking to your New Year’s resolutions

Hey and welcome to my first post for Campus Living Villages! My name is Hannah and I’m a first-year film student at Leeds Beckett University.

So, we’re now halfway through January the most painful and slow month of the year, right? Anyway, it’s getting to that point where the initial motivation for the whole ‘New Year, New Me’ vibe is starting to wear off, and we’re all struggling to stick to those all important New Year’s Resolutions. This inaugural post is *hopefully* going to help you with that!

1.  First and foremost, try to set a realistic goal.

Optimism is important, however it’s incredibly difficult to stick to a resolution that involved studying for 5 hours a day and never going on a Netflix binge. It’s best if you try to be flexible from the start for example, if you set your resolution as wanting to study for 10 hours a week that’ll be easier to stick to as you could perhaps study for 5 hours on a Sunday if you have more free time, then spread the other hours over the rest of the week. Likewise, with Netflix- or other things you do to procrastinate like going to the pub or having a 4-hour nap it’s inevitable you’re going to have difficulty cutting these things totally out of your life.

2. Baby steps

If you know you’re not going to be able to become a vegetarian straight away, why not try and ease yourself into it a bit more gradually! What I mean is, why not try something like ‘Meat Free Mondays’ for the first month or so and then if you’re doing well continue to eliminate meat from your diet until it’s totally gone!

3. Think ahead

My next piece of advice is to think of what your long-term goals are. Say you’re wanting to spend less money- why is that? Are you saving for a particular thing, like a new laptop or a holiday? Or maybe you just want to feel a bit more financially stable. Either way, if you have a set aim it’ll be easier to achieve as you know exactly what you’re aiming for. I’m actually speaking from experience on this one, I’m going to work in a Pennsylvania in June and having an actual goal of what I’m saving for has been making it so much easier! This comes in handy when you’re really tempted to give in and go on a night out or order a takeaway- instead you’re more likely to think, “Do I really need to blow this £15?”.

4. Share!

The next thing I’m going to say may sound silly, but it honestly is important. Sharing your resolutions with friends and family really will make all the difference, not only will it be another reason to try and stick to them as you don’t want to disappoint them, they will also be able to help motivate and assist you in achieving your overall goals.

5. Take it easy…

Above all, I think the most important thing is to not beat yourself up, no matter what missteps you take on your way to your goal. I 100% know how difficult it can be when you’re aiming for something and it feels like there are many different obstacles in your way. But don’t give up! Learn to move around them, or leap over them by adjusting your goals or not allowing a minor blip to knock you off track!

Good luck with whatever your resolutions may be, although it may seem difficult at the time, I’m sure the end result will be worth it!​