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Kick start your resolutions

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woman looking at christmas tree

The new year is an opportunity to reflect on the past year and start afresh with prioritizing your own health and happiness. However, the tradition of creating New Year’s resolutions is often short-lived. The second Friday in January has come to be known as “Quitters Day,” when many people give up on their goals. By February, close to 80% of people abandon resolutions altogether.

Maintaining new year’s resolutions, according to Agatha Parks-Savage, Ed.D., RN, Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education and professor of Family and Community Medicine at Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences EVMS Medical Group at Old Dominion University, is easily within your grasp. “You should approach each new year in a way that sets you up for success," said Parks-Savage. "There are simple ways to stay on track which will help make that fresh start last throughout the year.”

Parks-Savage offers these 5 simple suggestions to help you become healthier and happier in 2025:

  1. Reflect back

Before you can move forward, you should take some time to reflect on what worked well this past year and what you wished you did differently – and why.

  1. Create new goals

What are one or two things you have been meaning to do differently? For some people, it can be less screen time and more in-person connection time with friends and family. This is also relevant to the workplace. Consider sending fewer emails and calling a colleague instead. The surprise reaction to an actual phone call or showing up to someone’s office is always a welcomed gift.

  1. Fresh start

Tidy-up and declutter! By doing this, you will actually save time from having to search for things, spending money on things you already own but misplaced, and the effort of looking for it. Purge expired items from the refrigerator and pantry, take care of the laundry, and do the pre-spring home cleaning. Get your work office straightened up to begin that fresh start. I make a point to clean out that pesky drawer of needless files I haven’t touched all year.

  1. Set achievable goals

Break up tasks into smaller goals. For example, don’t tackle the entire house in one day. Start with that overgrown closet and donate what you don’t need. There is the junk drawer that has now slowly invaded another drawer. Then there is that one pile of paperwork in your office that seems to be gathering dust. Finish one task before moving to the next.

  1. Make yourself the priority

Too often, we find ourselves constantly giving in our personal and work life. Remind yourself that you need to take back and take care, if even for just a quiet moment in the morning. Make your physical and mental health your top priority. If you are the constant “yes” person, learn to say “no” more often.

 

Agatha Parks-Savage, Ed.D., LPC, RN, is a Licensed Professional Counselor, professor of Family and Community Medicine and Associate Dean and Associate Designated Institutional Official of Graduate Medical Education. She is also a Certified Executive, Physician & Life Coach and Certified Trainer, Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue.