We might be halfway through the year (yes, already!), but don’t worry if your New Year resolutions didn’t quite go to plan — you can set goals at any time of the year. In fact, the winter months are the perfect time to start planning your next 12 months and beyond — you’ll be well ahead when New Year’s finally comes around.
In the first part of a two-part series, we’ve put together a list of handy tips to help you set and work towards your goals in 2016 and beyond.
Be realistic
It’s going to be very hard for you to reach goals that are just plain unrealistic. When setting your goals for 2016, it’s important to go for ones that you can reasonably achieve in the time you have given yourself. Saying you’re going to go to the gym every single day is probably going to set you up for failure (unless you’re particularly enthusiastic, of course), whereas setting a goal to go to the gym twice a week is more achievable — and if you go more often, you’ll feel even better about yourself!
Setting a secondary or mini-goal that is part of a larger goal is another great way to keep yourself motivated throughout the year. For example, if your goal is to be able to run a marathon in 2017, set yourself a secondary goal of being able to run a 10 or 15 kilometre fun run in six months’ time. This is still a fantastic achievement and will help you stay motivated to keep working towards your goal.
To help you keep on track BetterHealth has some more great tips on setting your fitness goals here.
Focus on one thing at a time
In a society where ‘more is better’, it’s easy to feel compelled to stretch ourselves to the point of complete exhaustion. One of the key things to remember when setting goals is to not set too many.
Focusing on a small number of achievable goals will help keep you energetic and focused throughout the year. Success shouldn’t be a chore, you need time to sit back and enjoy the rewards too.
‘If at first you don’t succeed’
Even the best of us suffer from a lack of motivation, and it can be easy to lose willpower if we accidentally slip up on our journey towards a goal. The worst thing you can do at this point is give up — remember, if goals were easy to achieve they wouldn’t be goals! Remind yourself that you are only human and that sometimes humans make mistakes — then get back on your horse and keep on riding, as they say.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for setting and reaching goals. Everyone is different and there will be different things that work for different people. Have you set yourself any goals for 2016? If so, what things are you doing to help maximise your chances of success?
Part 2:
In part one of this series, we looked at goal setting for the new year (or anytime in between!) and provided some tips and tricks to help you set and meet your goals successfully in 2016 and beyond. Whether you want to save more money in 2016, become a little healthier or maybe even learn a new language, our tips will help you keep on the right track all year long.
But what happens once you’ve set your goals and you’re on your way? How can you make sure that you stay on the right track? Twelve months is a long time after all.
In the second of our two-part new year’s resolution series, we’ve put together a list of helpful resources that will help you keep your goals on track all year long, no matter what they are.
Quit Smoking
One of the most common New Year’s resolutions people make is to quit smoking cigarettes. This is a fantastic resolution to make that will greatly benefit your health and well-being if you can keep your efforts on track.
QUIT is the national resource that helps people on their journey towards living a cigarette smoke-free life.
In addition to QUIT, there are a number of other resources out there to help you beat cigarettes. Head to I Can Quit and QuitNow for more support, resources and tips to help you overcome tobacco once and for all.
Get Fit
If you’re on a health kick in 2016, there are a number of free resources out there to help you stay on track.
Shape Up Australia is one such resource. An initiative of the Australian Government, Shape Up is an online resource providing you with a one-stop hub for all things health and exercise.
There’s a plethora of information available on the Shape Up website, including plenty of tips, recipes and exercise ideas available to help you keep your health goals on track throughout 2015.
If you like to keep your motivation hi-tech, there’s no shortage of apps that can help keep you on top of your fitness goals. Check out FitBit (you don’t need a physical tracker to use their free app) and Fitnet.
Save Money
Developed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), MoneySmart is a resource to help Australians keep better track of their spending habits and also get a better understanding of their finances.
TrackMySpend is a helpful app developed as part of the MoneySmart campaign that will help you track your expenses and budget more effectively for those financial goals you are trying to meet.
Another popular money saving app is Pocketbook, which is free on Android and Apple. It syncs up with your bank accounts allowing you to set yourself budget goals. You will receive a notification when you’ve overspent, and even if you have missed a bill.
Apps to Help Track your Goals
There are apps that can help you with nearly anything these days, including goal tracking.
Coach.me (formerly known as Lift) is an app that helps you enter and track goals all in one easy place. Available free on the iTunes app store, Coach.me will help you set fitness, financial and personal development goals and allow you to monitor your progress all in one easy place.
Developing habits is an important part of achieving goals, and the Way of Life app is a fun and simple way to help you make good choices, which will help you establish habits.
Other great goal tracking apps include Asana and Nozbe, both of which have powerful desktop software to support the phone apps.
If you’re looking for more inspiration on how to keep your goals on track in 2016, why not take a look at 'Setting yourself up for success in 2016 and beyond'.