Tips to ‘keep you accountable’ with your goals this New Year

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – It’s 2024 now and many people are creating resolutions for the new year, but many won’t stick with it.

All too often, people create broad resolutions.

According to Dr. Dave Miers, the senior behavioral health director at Bryan Health, that’s one of the reasons they’re not kept throughout the year.

“About 92% of those who set their New Year’s resolutions by February, have either stopped following the resolutions and/or they just have failed at the resolutions,” he said.

Miers said, it’s better to come up with S.M.A.R.T goals.  That stands for Sustainable, Measurable, Achievable, Relatable, and Timely.

He tells people to ask themselves how relatable is the goal to them; what is the motivation behind the goal?

Many people who make up resolutions want to live a healthier lifestyle, but for some, going to the gym may be a daunting task.

“The best way to get started in the gym is joining a group fitness class or a boot camp, something that occurs on a regular basis and has the community to keep you accountable,” said Sophie Baum, a personal trainer at Goodlife Fitness.

Having a support system to help motivate you is important, but it’s also important to have goals visualized outside of your head.

Baum said to track your progress, you should set an overall goal in December and work backwards.

“Set those quarterly or monthly milestones and then use a visual like a calendar or mood board or poster,” she said.

Visualizing will also form a habit of doing these activities long after the goal was met or started.

Dr. Miers said the more consistently you do the same thing, the more likely it is to become a habit.

If you are someone who has goals set for yourself, but don’t know where to start in order to attain them, he said to search for community resources to help.

Having a community behind you is important to also keep your goals.