Inspiration and Intention: Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions

• By School of Health Professions
• January 2, 2025
• Health

New Year’s resolutions – an age old tradition, if you will – year after year, we evaluate the past year and look toward the coming year. We make resolutions to ourselves that might offer hope for a better future. But if we haven’t appropriately prepared ourselves for realistic and positive change, these promises can burn out quickly, turn empty, and bring about feelings of failure.

Lynn Jennings, Ph.D., LPC-S, LSOTP-S, shares with us her tips on how to start and follow through with our New Year’s resolutions with a successful mindset. Dr. Jennings is an Assistant Program Director/Instructor for the TTUHSC Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program in the Department of Clinical Counseling and Mental Health. She also co-authored a textbook on building a private counseling practice. 

Dr. Jennings says there are a few key things to evaluate when looking at how your New Year’s Resolutions can benefit you:

Back up your inspiration with intention. New Year’s Resolutions are something we come up with to inspire a better version of ourselves, but we have to have the intention and ultimately, the accountability to actually follow through. 

“The benefit of actually making New Year’s Resolutions is that it engages us in the future through intentionality and inspiration,” she explains. “But, holding ourselves responsible and accountable is always a good thing.”

Make motivational, yet manageable goals. Just as you make a plan to go to the grocery store or to accomplish a work or home project, you have to make a plan. Within that plan, set goals to achieve along the way. 

Dr. Jennings uses a 5K for example – Would you ever start training for a 5K by running five miles a day? We hope not. Most likely, you would follow a running schedule and build up to it over time. 

“When making plans for your resolutions, you've got to do things in a manageable way and make goals that you can actually achieve or do, instead of immediately doing what you aspire to do,” she says. 

Whether you’re trying to run a 5K or want to lose 20 pounds, break down lofty goals into bite-sized, achievable pieces. She also encourages giving yourself flexibility in those goals. For example, don’t be too rigid with yourself if you’re at a conference and can’t eat what’s within your diet restrictions. 

Create a routine. She says it can be helpful to write your routine out, even keeping it out where you can see it. But again, give yourself permission to be flexible. Change up your routine until it works for your schedule or daily habits.

Remove distractions. While there are many things that may cause distraction and it varies from person to person, we mean screen time specifically. Taking technology breaks can enhance your physical and mental health. 

Dr. Jennings notes a recent study showing that in a studied population with more than four hours of screen time a day, there was a 26% or 28% increase of anxiety and depression in that population. 

Celebrate every single win. As Dr. Jennings has always told her patients –

“When you're making a goal, as long as you are able to take two steps forward and one step back, you're still a step ahead,” she says. “You need to celebrate all of those successes and learn from your mistakes.”

Share with your loved ones. Invite your loved ones to be your support system in this journey too. Have an open line of communication. Give them permission to hold you accountable and to help you keep a realistic mindset. But let them encourage you and celebrate those wins with you too. 

“Sometimes we get so busy in trying to achieve things that we can be very siloed and disconnected – just kind of going through the motions,” she says. “And that is not relationship building at all.”

Dr. Jennings notes that welcoming your support system into the process and nurturing those relationships is a key part in helping you to achieve your goal(s). Once your relationships are improved, you, in turn, feel happier and more energized to keep going.