How to reframe your resolutions for more success

With a new year, it only makes sense to set goals to help you make positive changes and become a new and improved you, right?

Maybe.

At or around 1 January each year, millions of people across the world set goals or “new year’s resolutions” in the hope of developing new habits for positive change. And yet, about 80% of these resolutions are abandoned by February.

So, where are we going wrong?

Do we simply lack the motivation and discipline (likely, after the challenge of the last two years!) or is it something else? Maybe the problem lies in how we define our goals. They may be too vague or too far out of our reach.

Among the most common resolutions are:

• Get organised
• Exercise more
• Lose weight
• Learn a new skill or hobby
• Save more/spend less

Let’s focus on the last one – save more and spend less. Perhaps this is a goal you’ve set for yourself in the past, or even for this year. Lockdowns and spending so much time at home may have done some damage to your bank account, as you passed the time engaging in a dangerous online shopping habit.

Or is that just me?

Even just out of pure financial wisdom, you may have resolved to change your purchasing habits so you can save up for that emergency fund, new car, holiday, or down payment for a home. But will setting a goal for yourself like “spend less” help you make positive and lasting change?

For most of us, probably not.

What if spending less means missing out on buying the things we really need? And if we do buy those things, we automatically fail to achieve our goal. That doesn’t seem right.

Instead of a typical “spend less” goal that sets you up for failure, try reframing it and set a goal for yourself like “be more intentional with spending” and define what that means to you. This type of goal focusses less on the amount and more on the item.

So if you’ve had your eye on the Essential Bandeau (as I have), don’t immediately dismiss it because it doesn’t help you “spend less”. Look at it as intentional spending – an investment to help you achieve other more long-term goals such as engaging in more mindful consumption to preserve our precious earth.