Thursday, January 2, 2014

Developing a New Year's Resolution

A new year presents a great opportunity to set new and exciting goals.  However, setting goals or developing a New Year’s resolution, can take some planning.   If possible, take some time to brainstorm about what area(s) of your life you may want to improve.  For example, if you are a student, take a look at your progress report.  Is your homework average where you want it to be?  If not, set small achievable goals that you can attain every day.  At the end of each week, assess your progress.  Positive results can be a great motivation for eventually boosting your GPA. 
New Year’s resolutions come in all shapes and sizes.   Some people have a laundry list of what they would like to achieve, while others may have just one goal.  Either way, it’s easy to get a little overwhelmed.  Here are some tips, offered by the American Psychological Association, about how to “make your new year’s resolution stick”.
1.       Start small.  Make resolutions that you think you can keep.
2.       Change one behavior at a time.  Don’t get overwhelmed and think you have to reassess everything in your like.  Instead, work toward changing one thing at a time.
3.       Talk about it.  Share your experiences with someone you trust. 
4.       Don’t beat yourself up.   Everyone has ups and downs; resolve to recover from your mistakes and get back on track.
5.       Ask for support.  Accepting help those who care about your will strengthen your course. 
Although these tips are good ones, they are not meant to serve as professional advice.  If you have questions about setting goals, ask for help from someone you trust.  If you are a student, your guidance counselor has an abundance of resources that can help you get started.