Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution and by March can’t even remember your goals? Everyone has been in that situation. You make a New Year’s resolution. You’re all gung ho about it for what seems to last half of January, life happens, and your resolution gets put on the back-burner, and fades to a distant memory.

Been there.

Done that!

The resolution failure cycle

Why do so many people set out on making New Year’s resolutions, time and time again, knowing they probably won’t stick with it? I think its because most people don’t know the RIGHT way to make a New Year’s resolution.

Often, people set these great big dreams. Sometimes, people make a list of 100 things they want to accomplish in the new year. At the first of the year, people start off strong and feel like this will be the year they follow the resolution through. Then you return to your office, have an overflow of work after the Christmas break, your resolution gets pushed aside, and you tell yourself that “I’ll get back to my resolutions next week”. Sound familiar?

I used to do that too! I would have a bold list of what the year would look like for me, but I forgot to account for one thing: reality.

How to Keep your New Year’s Resolution

I was introduced to this incredible book that, over the course of an hour, set the path to change my life. The book is called “One Word that will Change Your Life” by Jon Gordon. I was unsure about the book at first. How could one word change your life? Alas, I gave it a read, and I never looked back!

This book helps set you up for success when choosing a resolution for the year. It helps you choose one WORD to focus on for each area of your life: mental, physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, and financial. Why? Because one word is easy to remember and its manageable, even during the crazy moments life throws at you.

Its important to take time to think of your word. The book gives brilliant advice on how to choose your word. It reminds you that you don’t need to have your word picked by January 1st.

The author also shares ideas to implement your word in all aspects of your life. You want to give yourself time to focus, contemplate, and deeply think about that word.

My favorite way of doing that is going for a long run. Its one of the rare occasions I leave my headphones and music at the house, lace up my shoes, and go. I never set a distance goal for this run. I run as long as necessary.

Since I leave my music behind, I also leave the distractions behind. Leaving distractions means my mind is clear and I can think about the areas of my life that I should focus on more in the coming months. The fun part is deciding how to sum it up in a single word.

Brief look into my One Word

At the start of 2020, I found myself in a new country (Australia), starting my PhD, on the other side of the world, from family and from home. My word for 2020 was Courage. Little did I know how much courage I would need to brave what was about to happen in Melbourne over the course of the next couple of years. I wrote the word down and put it on my refrigerator so I could see it each day, even changing the background on my phone to the word. This was an easy way to remind myself to have courage, no matter what. Not surprisingly, this made the word for 2021 come easy: Perseverance.

The year 2022 was different. The word for 2022 was Gratitude because I had faced chaos, stress from the PhD, and so many hardships but, with Gus by my side and God leading the way, I could overcome the challenges. In 2022, I got to see my family in person again after 3 long years. I can’t think of much more to be grateful for than family time and the constant love and support I have from Gus.

Looking Forward to New Year’s Resolutions

I’m not yet sure what my word for 2023 will be, but choosing One Word each year has changed the way I look at New Year’s Resolutions. It is also mentally and spiritually rewarding when you get to December knowing that you stuck to your goal of doing your best to keep that one word as a focus throughout the year. When was the last time you stuck to your New Year’s resolution?

Do yourself a favour. In this New Year, go read “One Word that will Change Your Life” and stick to your New Year’s resolution. Finally keeping your resolution, the promise you made to yourself is so fulfilling! Just imagine how you will feel! 

Let me know what you choose for your One Word!