10 Reasons Why It Is Hard to Keep New Year’s Resolutions (and How to Stick to Your Goals for 2023)
It is that time of the year when we make New Year’s Resolutions, only for many of us to find it hard to keep them. We forget them or give up and fail to stick to the goals we set for the New Year as soon as the next day or the second week of January.
But this doesn’t have to be you this time. You can make New Year’s resolutions and keep them. Achieving all the goals you set for the year ahead will make you feel happy and satisfied with your life when you pause to reflect at the end of 2023.
So, why is it hard to keep resolutions? As you make your New Year’s resolutions, you most likely don’t plan to not stick to them. But many things can happen within the 365 days you want to achieve your goals, making it hard for you to keep your New Year’s resolutions.
In this post, we shall discuss some common reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions. We will also provide several tips to help you learn how to stick to your New Year’s goals for 2023 so you can succeed and feel more fulfilled in life.
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Why It Is Hard to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
- Procrastination and laziness
The bad habits of procrastination and laziness are the main reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions. For instance, you may start the year excited to begin working on your goals, but because it is New Year’s Day or you are still in holiday mode, you decide to put it off till the second week of January or later.
When you procrastinate, your positivity and excitement about your New Year resolutions may fade. You could find yourself making excuses and postponing working on your goals for the entire year until you give up on them.
If you want to learn how to stick to your goals for 2023, you must realize that your laziness and the excuses you keep making are the reasons why it is hard to keep your New Year’s resolutions. Planning, becoming more organized, holding yourself accountable, and increasing self-discipline will help you stop procrastination and stick to your New Year’s resolutions.
- Unexpected setbacks
No one sets goals hoping to fail. But unfortunately, it is rare for all your plans to go the way you want. The conditions may be perfect when you are setting your goals for 2023, but things may change along the way. You may encounter many unforeseen setbacks.
For example, you could lose your job, you or a loved one may become sick, and you could lose your material possessions, among many others. If you didn’t establish a plan for what to do in case of failure or if you face challenges, unexpected setbacks could be the reasons why it is hard to keep your New Year’s resolutions.
Picking yourself up and bouncing back is not easy, and sadly, many people decide to give up on their goals and wallow in self-pity when they encounter setbacks.
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- Lack of motivation
When making your New Year’s resolutions, you were sure you would keep them. But when the end of the year comes, you wonder what happened. Why didn’t you stick to your goals for the New Year? Lack of motivation is one of the most common reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions.
You may start out strong working on your goals, but many things can make you demoralized from sticking to your New Year’s resolutions. For example, continued failure to achieve your goals, self-doubt, unrealistic goals, lack of commitment to your resolutions, mental health issues, discouragement from others, and lack of rewards or recognition for your achievements.
You could also lack the motivation to keep your New Year’s resolutions even after achieving a few of the goals on the list if the results are not as expected, especially if they are disappointing.
If you want to stay motivated to stick to your goals for 2023, you should set out to achieve something you really desire.
- Lack of resources
You may make a particular resolution for the New Year of something you really want to achieve, but if you don’t have the resources to actualize it, your goal will become just a dream.
Lack of access to resources is one of the reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions.
The resources you need to achieve your goals could be things such as, money, gadgets, electricity, internet, equipment, books, and supporters, or intangible ones such as skills, knowledge, self-confidence, and reputation.
- Resistance to change
The New Year is fast approaching, and you have big goals you want to achieve in 2023. However, making New Year’s resolutions is the easy part; keeping them is where the work is.
One of the reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions for many people is the resistance to change.
For instance, you may resolve to break your bad habits and take more risks, but when it is time to take the actions needed to achieve these goals, you find it hard to change.
You are probably in your comfort zone and are afraid to take risks because you fear the unknown. You want to do things how you have always done them.
By being resistant to change, you could get stuck in life. You may settle for a mediocre life when you could have an extraordinary, fulfilling one.
If you want to make positive changes to your life in 2023, you should embrace change. Overcome your fears, form new habits and get out of your comfort zone.
READ ALSO: 10 Signs You Are Stuck in The Past, Why It Happens, and How to Let Go
- Lack of time
Not all the New Year’s resolutions people make have something to do with their job or money. However, with the prevalence of hustle culture, many people often find it hard to keep their other New Year’s resolutions as they work too much and never have time for any other goals.
For example, you may have set goals such as wanting to spend more time with your loved ones, exercising, on your hobbies, or traveling but never have the time to do them because you are busy at work. This is just an excuse!
People make time for the things that matter to them. Since you want to learn how to stick to your goals for 2023, you should commit to your New Year’s resolutions and make time for them.
- Failure to set personal SMART goals
Even though many people know it is important to set S.M.A.R.T, i.e., Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound goals, many fail to ensure their New Year’s resolutions adhere to this. As such, failure to set SMART goals is one of the reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions.
Additionally, some people set goals for the New Year without ensuring they are things they really want.
For example, you may include a particular goal on your list of resolutions while trying to meet other people’s expectations. Or, you could set one just because it is a popular New Year’s resolution among your age mates, friends, colleagues, or family.
If you want to learn how to stick to your goals for 2023, you must ensure that you set personal SMART goals.
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- Lack of planning
Planning is an essential part of goal-setting that many people often fail at when coming up with their goals for the new year.
Lack of planning is one of the reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions. So, one of the things you must do if you want to know how to stick to your goals for 2023 is to make a plan.
Write a detailed action plan to help you track and accomplish your New Year’s resolutions. Next, list all the reasons why you want to achieve those particular objectives and how you will stay on track to achieve them.
If you have some big goals for the New Year, break them down into smaller ones that will be more achievable.
Remember to create a vision board and place it where you will see it daily so you can visualize your goals and manifest them. A vision board will help you stay focused and motivated to keep your New Year’s resolutions.
- Setting too many goals
A new year presents an opportunity to start over on a clean slate. You are probably excited to get this chance and want to make many New Year’s resolutions.
But even though each individual goal may be achievable, you should avoid making too many New Year’s resolutions if you want to stick to them.
If you usually set too many goals, it may be the reason why it is hard for you to keep your New Year’s resolutions. Having too many goals can overwhelm you, stress you out, make you lose focus, and demoralize you if you fail to accomplish them.
Though a year may seem like a long time, it is not. You may burn yourself out trying to achieve all these goals within the limited time of 365 days.
When making New Year’s resolutions, you should not aim to have the highest number of goals. A few good goals are better than many that are unachievable.
Setting too many goals could even discourage you as you may feel like you aren’t making any progress.
READ ALSO: Finding Your Purpose: 10 Ways to Figure Out What You Want in Life
- Impatience
Just as it takes time to form a new habit, it takes time to break bad habits. One of the reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions for many people is that they crave instant gratification and expect immediate results.
They set their goals on New Year’s Day and want to have broken their old bad habits by the next day or for their new habits to have started showing results. But it doesn’t work that way.
Forming new good habits and breaking your old bad ones will take time. You will probably not achieve all the goals you set for 2023 in January or even in the first six months.
Sticking to your New Year’s resolutions for 2023 will not be so hard if you keep working hard, become patient with yourself, and trust the process. You will soon reap the benefits of your hard work and perseverance.
READ ALSO: 8 Reasons Why You Should Start Slow Living (and How to Practice It)
How to Stick to Your New Year’s Goals for 2023
- Set personal SMART goals
- Break down your big goals into smaller goals
- Make a plan
- Don’t set too many goals
- Focus on one New Year’s resolution at a time
- Create a vision board
- Stop making excuses and develop self-discipline
- Expect setbacks and plan how to tackle them
- Hold yourself accountable
- Pick yourself up when you face challenges or fail
- Involve your support system
- Monitor your progress
- Be patient
- Reward yourself for your wins, no matter how small they may be
- Stay positive
Final Thoughts
And there you have them – the above are some of the reasons why it is hard to keep New Year’s resolutions.
But does this mean it is pointless to make New Year’s resolutions for 2023? OF COURSE NOT! Setting goals at the beginning of a New Year is important as it gives you something to work towards for the next 365 days.
Your goals will give your life direction, and you will have a reason to wake up every morning. Luckily, even though keeping your New Year’s resolutions is hard, it is not impossible.
As the New Year begins, make your resolutions and use the tips provided above to learn how to stick to your goals for 2023.
Happy New Year!
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Procrastination is one of the major factors which keeps us from seeing results of the new year’s resolutions
Your top 3 points capture the true essence of Goals. I would suggest to write them down and keep them in physical location which you can atleast see 1 – 2 times each week. If you have 1 or 10 goals – have them broken down by granular steps to make it count. Excellent blog Sherri!