How to make your new year's resolutions a long-term change

Whether it is buying a gym membership and attending every week, trying to eat more healthily or taking steps to cross a few things off our bucket lists… January is the time that many of us make our resolutions for the year ahead. While motivation levels are high at the beginning of the year, as the weeks pass many fall short of their planned resolutions. The majority of us scrap our new year goals by the end of February.

Here at Medichecks, we thought it would be the perfect time to share our 5 top tips for making resolutions a long-term change. This will help you to keep motivated and make your 2021 resolutions a long-term success!

1. Write it down

Writing down your resolutions helps to visualise your goals. Make a list of everything you want to achieve and then make a separate list of things you need to do to make these goals happen. Make sure this list is broken down into small manageable steps as setting a goal without a step-by-step plan can be overwhelming and even therefore more subject to procrastination. As you accomplish things on the list, tick these off to help you stay on track, focused, and positive.

2. Tell the world

To keep you on track and help you stick to your resolutions, family and friends' support is very important. Although yes, it can be somewhat daunting to share your goals with those around you, vocalising your plans increases your odds of success.

Letting people know your resolutions may inspire others. You may bag yourself a gym buddy or a friend who wishes to follow in your footsteps - it's easy to break a promise to yourself, but much harder to admit it to a friend. Accepting help from those around you who care about you strengthens your resilience and keeps you on track for reaching your goals.

3. Forgive yourself

No one said it would be easy, and yes, you may slip up from time to time. You may miss a week of the gym or eat more sweet treats than you probably should, but this doesn’t mean you’ve completely failed and should give up. Don’t be disheartened if you stray away from your targets, just learn from it and take a look at what you can do to improve your situation. To keep your motivation levels high, try to set realistic benchmarks at various points during the year and use positive reinforcement to keep your momentum going.

4. Create a successful environment

To give yourself the best start, make sure you have an environment around you that is prepped for success. Good habits are easier to build if they just flow with your life without needing to go out of your way. Create an environment where doing the right thing is easy as possible and doing the wrong thing is as difficult as possible. Whether this is removing all the tempting treats from your house if you are trying to eat more healthily, buying yourself a nice new outfit for the gym to motivate you to work out, or organising dates in your diary with family and friends if you wish to spend more time with those you love in 2021. If you are organised and have everything you need to carry out your resolution, you are more likely to succeed.

5. Track and monitor your progress

If you are looking to lead a healthier, more active lifestyle in the new year, being able to track and monitor your progress with our Diet and Lifestyle Blood Test is an excellent motivator to see how your efforts are positively affecting your health. Taking a test before you embark on your journey helps you get a clear picture of your current state of health, and then again a few months down the line to monitor your efforts. This will keep you honest and fully aware of how well you are reaching your goals.

Visualising the improvements you make to markers like cholesterol and blood sugar in just a few months will encourage you to adopt these changes long-term as part of a healthy lifestyle - and not as just a one-off fitness kick.

Make 2021 your best year yet by following our 5 simple steps to success. Wishing you a happy, healthy 2021 from everyone here at Medichecks!