Did you make New Year resolutions coming into 2024? If so, you’re not alone. It’s common for people to focus on saving money, eating healthier, exercising more and just being happier in the new year. Many people look at the start of a new year as the time to reinvent themselves. 

Now, here we are, a few weeks into January and for those who did make resolutions, are you still sticking it out? Or did you give up already? 

According to Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, about 23% of people quit their New Year resolution within the first week, and 43% quit within the first month. 

While you may think that the new year is reason enough for change, it’s not. 

Yes, it feels like a great time to make resolutions for what you want your future to look like, but successful goals need more motivation if you want them to be accomplished. 

Along with motivation, we as humans need a little bit of a challenge. It helps to make the goals feel like something worth celebrating, so make sure your goals have meaning and challenge you. 

While pushing yourself to do something challenging, you will run into obstacles. Many people lose their determination to complete a goal once they encounter something difficult, but that’s when it’s most important to keep pushing through.

Since the tradition is to create goals to better yourself, many people end up making them all alone. However, having someone to work towards a goal with you might  help to keep you accountable and motivated. 

Any one of these reasons could have been your reason for giving up on your 2024 New Year resolution within the first few weeks, but it’s not too late to try again. 

Like I said, the turn of the new year cannot be your only source of motivation, or you are bound to fail. Create your goals now and constantly keep working towards them. 

When creating your goals, be sure to know exactly what you want and how you want to get it. Don’t try to put more on your plate than you can handle. Goals aren’t meant to be a chore. They are supposed to be something that you look forward to completing. 

When you do complete your goals, make sure to celebrate that. Many times, people get caught up in moving on to the next step instead of realizing how far they have come from where they started. 

Take time to reflect on everything that you have accomplished each year, month, week or even every day.

Have someone to celebrate with you and to help keep you accountable, and remember that no matter how long it takes you to complete your goals, just be happy that you did it.