Now that we’re approaching the end of the year, we usually reflect upon our actions and goals from last year and set our plans for the upcoming year. 

Although our objectives are well-intentioned, and we’re usually highly motivated on January 1st, we sometimes lose track of our resolutions, and instead of achieving them, we fail.

Without further delay, here are a few reasons why our resolutions fail, and what you can do to avoid losing track.

You aren’t clear enough. If you don’t know exactly what you want to do, you'll have a tougher time achieving whatever you’re putting your mind into. Your goals may be more challenging to achieve, so it's imperative that you make them as clear as possible so it’s easier to stay on track. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you be specific:

1. What do you want to accomplish? Write it down as if you were explaining it to a five-year-old
2. Why that goal?
3. Why now?

It’s not enough to have a goal at the top of your mind. You have to write down what you want to accomplish and establish a clear purpose for why you want to do that and why now. I assure you, it’ll change the way you see things.

You feel overwhelmed. Sometimes the biggest goals can seem more difficult to reach, or maybe you’re not prepared to make the sacrifices to get there. Coming out of your comfort zone can be challenging, and you can feel discouraged.

In this case, you need to pick your big main goal and break it down into smaller doable steps. It’s much easier to develop a plan where you can do three to five simple daily tasks. These will get you one step closer to accomplishing the big plan in smaller tasks instead of trying to do everything at once. Be patient and practical, and this way you won’t feel discouraged.

You aren’t ready for change. This is connected to the first problem. Sometimes we feel we want something, which is linked to confusion. This is why being clear on your goals is essential: just because you aren’t ready, doesn’t mean you won’t be prepared for a change in the future, so make sure you reinforce those questions on every goal you want to set up for the next year and make a side note for the goals you’re simply not prepared to get on with.

The SMART acronym is a key and effective remedy in addition to the solutions I gave you for each reason your resolutions fail. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. This can help you be 100% clear on what you want, how you want it, and how long it’ll take to accomplish.

For example, let's say one of your main goals this year is to lose weight. This is how you can break it down:

Specific: I want to lose 20 pounds in the first half of the year.

Measurable: I usually don’t trust scales because the weight can fluctuate according to different variables (type of scale, time of the day, what you ate the day before, etc.), but what you can do is measure parts of your body with a measuring tape and keep track of the progress every 2 weeks.

Attainable: This means you have to be realistic about the accomplishment of your goal. Losing 20 pounds in a month is unrealistic; it’ll end up disappointing you, or possibly being harmful to your health. Instead, if you set yourself up to drop 20 pounds within the first 3-6 months of the year, then it will become an attainable goal. It’s well known that the healthiest way to reduce weight is between 1 and 2 pounds per week, depending on what you’re willing to sacrifice. So losing 6 to 8 pounds per month is more realistic, less dangerous, and puts much less pressure on you. 

Relevant: Staying healthy, sleeping well, improving your eating habits, and starting or getting back into an exercise routine is how you stay relevant to your goal. Anything outside these steps may distract you and you may lose track of your actions. 

Time-bound: When we set a date, we feel more obligated to follow the steps to get to the end result. If you want to lose 20 pounds in 3 months, you know you have to break it up into losing a couple of pounds each week.

If you find yourself losing interest or making excuses for the achievement of the goals you set, I suggest you go back to this article. Make notes to follow up on your objectives. Being consistent and following up is the key to success. Be sure you’re monitoring your steps and keeping track of everything.