Automate New Year’s resolutions

Most New Year’s resolutions fail by mid-January, after our first few weeks of trying to create new habits and completing tasks with gusto, we lose steam and life catches up. Strava data has demonstrated that there is a dramatic drop that happens by the second Friday in January.

Part of the reason some resolutions are unsuccessful is that we set unrealistic expectations and lofty goals without a clear path to accomplish them. If you have never run in your life, running a marathon by spring is going to be physically unlikely and mentally daunting, meaning you are likely to quit.

Setting clear goals, writing them down, and giving yourself the tools to stay accountable will help you achieve your 2022 New Year's resolutions. Check out our top tips to make it happen, automatically.

Write your goals down

One tried and true way to accomplish your goals is to write them down. As you go through the coming weeks, write down ideas or things you would like to do in the next year using the note widget on your phone. Keeping track of potential goals in an organized note will make it easier to sit down and write clear resolutions.

Send yourself reminders

Custom notifications are an amazing way to recharge your drive to keep up with your resolutions. Set a daily, weekly, or monthly reminder with whatever message or reminder you want to receive. Better yet, create a recurring reminder that also blocks off an hour on your calendar so that you can carve out the time to make it happen.

Stay accountable

If notifications on your mobile device or in your email aren’t enough to keep you motivated, stay accountable through tracking and data.

You can create a spreadsheet that is updated daily so you can see your progress over time, or press the button widget every time you practice mindfulness. You can use these as easy ways to visualize and contextualize your progress towards your resolution.

Habit trackers

For resolutions that are task oriented, such as increasing mindfulness by meditating or reading for a certain amount of time per day, using a habit tracker can help you determine if you are meeting your goals. There are tons of ways to do this. Write down if you are doing your meditation every day in your physical calendar, or use an Applet to auto-populate a spreadsheet in Google Sheets or Evernote.

Habitify is another great way to build habits as you track your progress over time. This web and mobile service has you set goals and log how you are doing every day.

Wellness trackers

If your resolution involves a wellness based goal, begin to consider the ways that services and devices can benefit you. From tracking your steps with iOS Health or measuring your weight with FitBit, you can even log your distances on foot or on a bike with Strava.

Welltory is a powerful tool and software that unlocks even more of your potential by analyzing your heart rate variability.

Withings is another company that creates smart scales, heart monitors, and scales that can assist you in making your progress more concrete over time.

Explore

Want to do even more with IFTTT? Explore the possibilities and create powerful experiences by making your own Applets.