Every year people around the globe make New Year’s resolutions, goals typically focused on improvements in certain area of their lives; health, personal happiness, finances, etc. Motivated by the energy and the possibility of a new year, resolutions start out strong - our social media accounts blowing up with gym selfies, goal trackers, and motivational quotes.

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And then life happens. We hit a plateau or barrier and things get busy at work or with life and our aspirational goals fall by the wayside. The further out from January we get the more and more people feel less successful in keeping their resolutions. One study found that of the 41% of Americans who make new year’s resolutions only 9% feel successful in keeping their resolutions by the end of the year.

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• After 1 week: 75% feel successful in keeping their resolutions
• After 2 weeks: 71% feel successful in keeping their resolutions
• After 1 month: 64% feel successful in keeping their resolutions
• After 6 months: 46% feel successful in keeping their resolutions
• At end of year: 9% feel successful in keeping their resolutions

What causes this continued decline in sustaining and meeting our goals? Decreased hope.

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Hope is the belief that things can be different and that we have the power to make it different. We start our resolutions with high hope. We believe something can be different and we identify the pathways to make change happen. As time goes on and we face evolving or new challenges, we struggle to continue to center hope and make necessary changes to continue to progress towards our identified goals. This year, try not to get discouraged when challenges begin to arise, rather focus on centering hope by creating new pathways to reach your goals.

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Need help generating new pathways? Consider taking some time to reflect on the questions below.

• Is my goal still achievable/ something I want to achieve or do I need to think of shifting or
  changing my goal based on new information or circumstances?
• If my goal is still achievable, what barrier or challenge am I facing in reaching my goal? Can I go around it? What alternative solutions are there? Are there other solutions than the ones I have outlined?
• Is there someone I know who might have a different perspective or advice on tackling this
  challenge?
• What does progress look like towards my goal on a weekly or daily basis?
  When is the next time I will check in on my progress?