Renew Your Spirit: 7 Proven Tips for Achieving Your New Year’s Resolutions

A Time for Renewal

Our family has always seen New Year’s Eve as an invitation to personal renewal, aligning with God’s call for continuous growth and transformation. Since our children were in their early teens, we have had a family tradition of writing down our New Year’s resolutions. We would then gather around the dining room table with magazines and cut pictures to create vision boards that visually inspired us to accomplish our intentions. The most meaningful part of the exercise was using the boards to share with each other what our intentions were for the following year. This helped us learn about our family members’ deep aspirations, dreams, and concerns. It also allowed us to provide support and accountability.

Now, our children are married young adults, and we are spread across four states in the US. Although we now write intentions and create vision boards separately, we still gather via Zoom to share them.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  

— 2 Corinthians 5:17

Why New Year’s Resolutions Matter

It’s important to live life intentionally. Most successful businesses develop a three-year strategy and use annual goals to prioritize their focus. With so many activities and interests available, intentions help us focus on what matters most. About 40% of people in the US set at least one goal during New Year’s.

Goal Setting Tips

Here are tips for successfully setting and achieving personal goals, developed after many years of effort:

1. Begin with Prayer and Discernment: View the exercise as an opportunity for spiritual transformation. In our journey to holiness, it is important to always ask for the graces needed to discern God’s will for us. Before writing goals, pray about them and listen to your heart.
2. Write Balanced Goals: I believe that “losing ten pounds” is the most common New Year’s resolution in the US. Caring for our bodies and health is important, but we need more than that. Our family has always developed 7-10 goals covering four aspects of life:

• Spiritual Growth: The area of your life that helps you become closer to God, see God’s hand in everything you do, and recognize all life as sacred.
• Your Calling: The area of your life where you use your strengths, talents, and skills for the benefit of others.
• Love and Friendship: The area of your life related to helping others (spouses, significant others, family members, relatives, friends, and others) through selfless acts of love, kindness, and service.
• Physical: The area of your life that involves all things physical: your body, home, money, nature, etc.

1. Write SMART Goals: To be effective, write goals that are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Studies show that setting specific, attainable goals increases the likelihood of success (Psychologist Edwin Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory). For example, “Reduce body fat from 20% to 18% by eating more of the Mediterranean diet, walking 15 miles a week, and doing strength training three times a week.”
2. Understand the “Why” Behind the Goal: We have too many things demanding our attention, and unless we have a compelling reason to introduce a change in our lives, it will not happen. Write down the powerful, exciting, and positive impact that will come from achieving each goal.
3. Anticipate Barriers: Anticipate what could potentially get in the way of achieving the goal and write down the best possible action to mitigate these challenges. Example barriers include not dedicating sufficient time, lack of knowledge, or lack of a support group.
4. Incorporate Resolutions into Daily and Weekly Life: This is one of the most important tips for achieving goals. As I said before, our time is a precious commodity that is in constant demand. We need to plan and schedule when we will take action to achieve our goals. Behavioral science suggests that starting small builds habits effectively (James Clear’s Atomic Habits). For example, schedule to “Pray and read the Bible” for 30 minutes daily at 7 a.m., or schedule to “Take a Spanish language class” on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.
5. Focus on Faithfulness, Not Precise Success: Life is a journey, and over the course of a year, many unanticipated things may happen to cause us to change course. For example, a change of job or the sickness of a loved one may demand additional time from our day. We need to ask God for help, always strive to align our will to God’s will, and persevere as much as possible. At the end, the achievement may not be exactly as envisioned. Perhaps we lost eight pounds in a year instead of ten or read half the Bible instead of all the books. That’s OK. Celebrate the small wins and continue the journey the next year. Without goals and plans, we might not have realized even partial successes.

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  

— Colossians 3:17

Call to Action

This year, make resolutions that strengthen your faith, use your gifts for the service of others, grow in love for family and friends, and become better stewards of your body and money.