5 Super Easy Tips That Will Help You Stick To Even Your Hardest Resolutions

It’s not about suffering.

It’s no easy task to keep up with all the latest inspirations we’re showered with and make real changes to improve our lives.

With the best intentions, we scamper to make big resolutions and with absolutes and hard lines. That can be too much for some things.

But if you follow these tips, you’ll be able to make pacts with yourself that you can stick with and ultimately be a happier person.

Don’t be afraid of hard lines when trying to lose weight

While I said that hard lines can be “too much”, they in fact are what it may take for some things to actually stick. In her book, Bright Line Eating-the Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free, Susan Pierce Thompson explains when it comes to weight loss, for some of us moderation does not work.

The core principles of Bright Line Eating are Bright Lines — clear, unambiguous boundaries we don’t cross just like a non-smoker doesn’t smoke, no matter what. The four Bright Lines are: Sugar, Flour, Meals, and Quantities.

Bright Line Eating is very structured and takes a liberating stand against moderation. We adopt an addiction model because for many people, eating even a small amount of an addictive food doesn’t make the craving go away — it makes it worse. Bright Line Eating facilitates a paradigm-like identity shift necessary for people to stick with it long-term, get all the way down to goal weight, and happily, gleefully, stay there.

In other areas of your life, moderation or easing into things is the best course of action. Thompson contends that with food, those who are high on what she calls the “Susceptibility Scale”(which determines your behavior around food), are addicted to things like sugar and flour, much like substance abusers are addicted to their drug of choice and moderation will only keep you hooked.

Note: I started Bright Line Eating this week and as a 9 out of 10 on the susceptibility scale, it definitely feels like overcoming an addiction.

Being positive starts with your communication

If you’re trying to be a more positive individual, this will require taking some steps to alter your current communication style.

Being positive in your conversations or around others will require you to let your guard down and let go of some of your firmly set beliefs. Try these things:

Ask more questions of others in conversation. Don’t go into every conversation locked and loaded with your opinion. Relax. Ask questions. Listen more and listen better.

Don’t bring yesterday into today. A sure-fire way to keep yourself stuck in your own pool of Debbie Downer-ness is to bring yesterday's worries, concerns, shortcomings, or regrets to each day.

This is easier said than done with a few big things, but most things don’t need daily stressing over. Think about them only when you’re working on them and only if you need to.

Starting every day fresh, with a clean slate gives you power over your mood.

Be realistic when it comes to starting a new wellness routine

For goodness sake, don’t resolve to work out five days a week when you haven’t seen the inside of a gym for ten years. You’ll surely fall off the wagon and then want to throw in the towel.

Instead, ask yourself this question: What am I sure I can commit to for this week? Being totally honest when answering this will help you set a plan that you can actually live with.

If you want to journal or meditate every day, and you’ve never, ever done included that in your morning routine, ask yourself the same question.

With wellness habits, maybe you’ll start with specific days of the week, or maybe the time spent on it is shorter in the beginning. Either way, don’t follow anyone else's “plan”. Changing behaviors is personal to you, so you get to decide how and when.

Allow setbacks when you’re trying to detox from social or screen time

There will be times you slip up, especially if you have some firmly set routines. If you’re trying to wean off of social media or too much screen time, the nature of how these things lure us in is going to challenge you at times.

Let yourself ease into this new habit of cutting back with some guidelines. Much like the previous example, you’re going to have to be realistic.

Whether it’s the number of hours in a day or if you’re trying to stay off completely, say on Sundays, be prepared for the pull.

Sadly, that’s how these things are designed to be. Hard to resist.

But if you do have a setback, let that be okay, but don’t let it be a license to give up.

Baby steps actually work just fine.

Modify when needed when it comes to new money habits

Even the best-laid plans are often modified for a better outcome. That’s okay. If you are resolving to put money into savings or cut things out of your spending budget, it’s possible that you may start out too aggressively or even with too lofty of a plan for your current financial situation.

Don’t be afraid to modify your savings or spending habits. After all, you don’t want to create an anxiety-inducing situation from not having enough at the end of the week to meet your basic needs, or cutting things out completely that improved your day-to-day life.

Modifying is okay, but again, don’t just give up on the goal at hand. Saving for the future and cutting back on frivolities is a healthy financial outlook, but going in head-first and being too drastic can sabotage the goal completely, and leave you in an unhappy state.

Adjust and reset for success.

Making resolutions and setting goals are good for you. But they are only as good as your ability to stick to them.

Give yourself every advantage by being dialed into what you’re asking yourself to do and realizing what the pitfalls are. Then reset, modify, and have a little grace.

You’ll be much more successful in sticking to your resolutions when you are realistic and have a few reality checks along the way.

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