Each
year, people around the world create resolutions, then promptly forget
about them. This year, create a new trend by making sure that your
family sticks to their resolutions.
Four Tips to Creating and Sticking to New Year Resolutions
Create Goals that Can Be Achieved Together
Two
of the most popular New Year Resolutions are saving money and losing
weight. These are objectives that can be achieved as a family. If your
family wants to save money, think together about some areas that can be
trimmed. Finding a new car insurance carrier is one way to lower monthly
bills.
Car insurance for families can get very costly, but
by shopping around and getting quotes from other providers, you may find
a significant savings. If you are happy with your current insurance
provider, contact them and request a new quote for the new year.
Other areas where savings are possible include
monthly meal planning, including choosing to eat at home more often.
Make and stick to a budget for miscellaneous expenses as well. Get
younger kids involved in the resolution and encourage them to save half
of their allowance each week.
Plan a Strategy
If your family is
serious about their New Year Resolutions, sit down together and plot out
a plan on how to best achieve the chosen goals. Whether you have
decided to pursue a singular resolution as a family, such as completing a
5k or regularly volunteering, or if you each have your made your own
personal vow, you can still work together to find the right path to
reaching victory.
The best strategy is to break a goal down into
smaller, more achievable parts. A family that chooses to run a road race
together may need to start training from the ground up. In this case,
pick a goal for each month.
In January, purchase a book running, do online
training research, and pick the race in which the family will run. State
that by February, you will all have the ability to run one mile. In
March, the goal is two miles, and so on until the race has been
completed.
Any goal can be planned in a similar manner. All it
takes is some time and a little effort to help each family member decide
the best way to stick to their resolution.
Keep Each Other in Check
In a centralized location in the house, make a chart with each
family member's New Year Resolution. Each week, have each person write
on the chart what they did to reach their stated goal. If a family
member wishes to learn a new language, they should write the number of
hours they studied that week.
If a resolution is to stop smoking or to give up any
other type of vice, have them list the number of cigarettes they smoked
that week. Go over the chart as a family to encourage each other to
succeed.
Another way to keep each other accountable for
resolutions is to place reminders throughout the house. Use sticky notes
on bathroom mirrors with that month's goal. Really ambitious families
can have t-shirts printed with their resolutions emblazoned for the
world to see.
Reward the Family for Achieving Their Goals
Consider
attaching a reward to the resolution. The rewards can be as simple as a
family night out to celebrate or as exciting as a vacation to an exotic
locale. Young children may particularly benefit from a rewards system.
Let them know that if they do their part in helping the family to
achieve a resolution, they will receive a special prize, such as a trip
to the movies or a day at a pottery painting studio.
For families that have individual resolutions, turn
the process into a game. Purchase gift cards to local shopping centers
or to online vendors in varying amounts. The first person to complete
their resolution gets the largest denomination, the second to finish
gets the second highest denomination, and so on until all resolutions
have been completed.
Of course, not all resolutions involve reaching a
one time goal. Whereas one family member's resolution may be to lose 10
pounds, another's might be to volunteer at a pet shelter once a week. In
this case, rewards can be awarded the following New Year's Eve.
Purchase inexpensive trophies and have them engraved
with titles such as 'Most Persistent in Achieving New Year Resolution,'
'Fastest Time to Achieve Goal,' and so on. This can become a yearly
tradition that your children will continue with their own.
New Year Resolutions are not made to be broken, they
are made to encourage ourselves and one another to be the best we can
be. When families are willing to help each other achieve their goals,
they strengthen they not only become healthier in mind and spirit, but
they strengthen their bonds with each other.
Author Bio: Rachel Peters is a freelance writer and a devoted mother. When she is not busy taking care of her family, she can be found trying to find car insurance online.
