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Having trouble with your New Year’s resolutions? Here's how to make them stick

December 30, 2020

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Breanna Robinson

For every new year that comes around, many of us make plans to ring it in with resolutions for how we want the year to pan out. These resolutions could be to lose weight, become more outgoing and productive, dismantle worrisome thoughts, cease addictive habits, and much more.

It's always a good thing to make resolutions and plans to make better changes in your life. However, when the goals that we set for ourselves aren't accomplished within that year, it can make us feel really bad about ourselves. How can you go about setting goals that'll not only boost your confidence but stick with you throughout the new year? It would be best to create new habits by realizing what isn't working for you.

Now don't get me wrong, creating new habits can take some time, especially if you are a habitual person. But recognizing that this might not happen overnight can still help you understand there could be moments that are still enjoyable in a short amount of time, as long as you remind yourself you can obtain whatever you want in life.

Check out the following steps that have worked for me to achieve the best possible outcomes that you envision for yourself in the new year and years to come.

Reach for the stars and dream big

Never be afraid to reach for the stars no matter how far of a reach a goal may be! The more ambitious you are with your goals, the more inspiration you will place within yourself and the people around you. Show perseverance that is so infectious, it's hard for people to not be happy to help in any way they can. At the end of the day, support for anything anyone does is encouraging.

person holding book Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Create checkpoints for yourself

When there are so many things you want to accomplish, it can be discouraging trying to figure out where to start. Some of us on the other hand might not have an issue accomplishing bigger tasks. If you do face difficulty, break the goals into tiny checkpoints. These checkpoints will move you further towards the ultimate goal you want for yourself. When you do that, it will help boost your confidence and motivate you to continue pushing through because things are being done.

Motivation is key, my friends!

Understand that it's OK not to make a change if you are not ready

Are you serious? I sure am! Until you make sense of and have a grasp of why you're sticking to old habits, and routines that may or may not be serving you, it can be hard to really make a change. In considering the changes you want to make, really think about it. Success is more probable when the pros outweigh the cons in adopting behaviors that not only sound better, but feel better than the old way of doing things. On the other hand, you can always enjoy the things that may not be the best for you, without actually engaging in the behavior. For example, if you like to relax and smoke, you are more than welcome to relax, but find a healthier alternative to add to the relaxation.

Set goals for yourself and commit to them

Hold yourself accountable by writing down your goals in your favorite planner or notebook or verbally communicating them to people that mean the world to you. Not only will that encourage you to push through, but you can also feel so much better about yourself when you do start to embark on the path you want to be on. If you need more support, you can also post about your New Year's resolutions on social media, or find online support groups with people that have a similar mindset as you.

Learning from things that didn't work in the past

If you ever fail to make the change, it's still a step in the right direction. How is that possible though? Because each step, crawl and attempt to reach whatever you desire signifies a learning moment. Anytime you hit a blockage, just take a second to internalize what happened, why it didn't work, and what can we do to make this transition better. For example, if you feel that the goal of doing an hour workout at the gym is a little hard to do when your days get busy, break it up by doing a 15- 20 minute workout here and there or whatever you feel inclined to do.

Appreciate how far you've come, regardless if it's minor

Nevermind being "perfect". As long as you've set a goal and are working towards making it fully come to fruition. If you had plans to work out for an hour on a particular day or read a couple of chapters in that new book you just started, but you only read for 30 minutes or read one chapter, you'll still be on the right path. Remember, anything you do is better than doing nothing at all, so give yourself a pat on the back. You've earned that right.

This article is reflective of the author's opinions.

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Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.